


Clover Kingdom’s Dragon (An Anime Amalgam)

by W01FS0NG



Category: Assassination Classroom, Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga), Fairy Tail
Genre: Fairy Tail characters appear in a later chapter, Gen, More characters appear in only one chapter, OFC is a Crimson Lion King, One of the characters can wield weapons from Fate (as en Fate/GO and others), Other anime references throughout, She is a dragon slayer, This goes along with the anime Black Clover, regularly unregular updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 51,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23134120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W01FS0NG/pseuds/W01FS0NG
Summary: Follow Arashi Akabane, a dragon slayer, as she aids in Yuno and Asta's dream of becoming the wizard king.
Kudos: 8





	1. In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Yami Sukehiro is a Japanese name. Ergo, Sukehiro is actually his first name. However, with my OCs, even though their names are Japanese, their first name will be the first word, and not their last name. 
> 
> This is an amalgam, meaning there are different blends of different characters from different (mostly) animes written in. Also, the dragon-slaying magic is not any of the dragon-slaying magic seen throughout Fairy Tail.
> 
> (Mostly Fairy Tail and Assassination Classroom elements will appear in later chapters.)
> 
> **SPOILER WARNING FOR BLACK CLOVER**

Arashi Akabane and Akuma Akabane both grew up in Hage village. (Their father {drunk and abusive as he was} comes from the same country as Yami Sukehiro. But don’t worry, he’s gone now.) The two of them liked to get out of the house as much as they could. Too many memories of their father. A father who’s scared off their older brother Karma. (Or as he puts it, Karma wanted adventure. He can use weapon magic). They both have black hair and dark brown eyes. The kids are both able to use magic, but Arashi is stronger. The two of them often played with Yumo and Asta, seeing as they were all the same age. Arashi could use storm magic, while Aluma could use transformation magic.

Yuno and Arashi got along greatly seeing as their Magics were similar in a way. Actually, they all did. The Akabane siblings didn’t treat Asta as a good-for-nothing, they accepted him.

No one knew why Arashi would disappear into the forest. Sometimes she would be so happy, other times, extremely tired. When Akuma asked her about it once, she said, “There’s a dragon in the forest, and she’s teaching me her magic! Her name is Easifa!” With nothing to go on except her word, her brother believed it for a while.

When it was time for them to receive their grimoires, the four of them stuck close together. Well, more like Arashi and Yuno stuck close together while Akuma and Asta were left stuck together.

An old wizard stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. “Now, it is time… for the awarding… of the grimoires!” People all around the library cheered. As if on cue, the books flowed all kinds of different colors and floated off the shelves. 

Arashi received a grimoire with a dragon on it. The book glowed grey (unlike any of the other grimoires) while Akuma got a black grimoire with a three-leafed clover on it.

“Hey, yours looks so cool, sis!” Akuma congratulated.

“Thanks, yours looks awesome, Akuma,” Arashi complimented.

All of a sudden, the chatter died down. Everyone stared at the non-magic boy. “Uh,” Asta’s hope began to dwindle. “My grimoire’s not coming.”

“Uh… try again next year?” Even the Wizard was stumped.

“What?!?!” That was Asta’s only response. Everyone but his three friends laughed at Asta. 

All of their attention was turned to Yuno as his book glowed golden. The wizard recognized it as a four-leafed clover grimoire. Everybody recognized that book was akin to the first Wizard King’s grimoire. “I’m gonna become the wizard king!” Yuno declared.

“Awesome!” “No way!” “Cool!” Those were the exclamations made by the crowd.

Arashi couldn’t wait to go home and show Easifa her grimoire. As she opened it, Akabane could see that the spells she had worked on with the dragon had already made its way onto the pages. Luckily, her mom had come with her and her sibling. As the three of them headed out, they heard Asta.

“Not giving up is my magic!” Wanting to check it out, Arashi and Akuma went to check it out. 

Yuno was all wrapped up in chains while some guy was lying on the ground all beat up. “What the hell happened here?” The Akabane siblings questioned simultaneously.

“I got a grimoire!” Asta called out, gladly displaying it.

“What? No way. That’s gotta be fake,” Akuma decided. He checked it out anyway.

Meanwhile, Arashi gravitated towards Yuno. “You okay?” She asked him as she got the chains off of him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he responded, stepping out of the chains.

“That’s good…” the two of them watched the others geek out about their grimoires. “I guess I’ll see you around” she told him before starting to walk off.

—————

Over the course of the next six months, the four of them trained hard. Arashi and Akuma would often train together. Akuma’s transformation magic allowed him to take forms of different animals, even only partly doing it with a limb. His thing was close range magic, while Arashi could fight well at close and far range, she preferred the far range.

The siblings knew that only Arashi wanted to become a magic knight. Sometimes he would tease her about only doing this for Yuno. She would always deny it, of course. Sometimes she thinks that she might actually become the Wizard Queen before either Yuno or Asta does. Of course, she doesn’t have that dream in mind. She just wants to be able to protect people. 

—————

Asta, Yuno, and Arashi journeyed to the capital of the Clover Kingdom. Asta trained the entire way there. Yuno preferred to rest easy. Arashi found herself a little in between.

Once they arrived at the capital, Asta’s eyes glowed at all the cool stuff they had.

As they made their way to the arena, people all shouted at them to do their best.

Arashi was after the two boys in the line. 

“Name,” the man at the desk requested.

“Arashi Akabane, I’m also from Hage village.”

“Let me see your grimoire,” he stated. She gave it to him. He looked over it carefully. “You’re number 166.”

“Thank you,” she stated as she left the line.

As she entered the arena, she noticed that strange birds flew around people in great numbers while others were more fortunate. Apparently, those birds tend to gather more around people with weak magic power. Like Yuno, she had no birds around her. Unfortunately, it was the complete opposite for Asta.

Sooner or later, the captains of the magic knights all went to their spots high up in the esteemed audience section of the arena.

“Where’s the wizard king?” Arashi heard Asta ask.

Some noble told him that the king wouldn’t bother coming to the exam.

“Candidates,” announced Captain Vangeance of the Golden Dawn. “Magic tree descend!” His grimoire glowed green. From the clouds came a ginormous tree. It’s roots gave everyone a magic broom. “I am Captain Vangeance of the Golden Dawn. I will be your head examined today. We will now begin the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. The nine of us will evaluate your performance, and then we will select the candidates that we would like to add to our squads. If more than one hand is raised, you may choose the squad you would like to join. On the other hand, those who are not chosen by any captain will be asked to leave. The first task is riding a magic broom. All right, begin.”

People slowly got on their brooms. Yuno chose to stand on it while Arashi chose to sit sideways on it. Both of them rose quite high and managed to do some tricks on their brooms. Meanwhile, Asta struggled to even get in the air.

The next task was conjuring. Yuno conjured a rather large bird while Arashi conjured a dragon made out of wind, clouds, and lightning. She was able to stand on it and ride around on it. Asta still had yet to come up with any results.

The third task was seeing the damage one could do at a brick wall. After that, the fourth task was hitting a moving target. In both of those tasks, Yuno and Arashi performed brilliantly. Asta couldn’t do a thing.

With the final task, the contestants were asked to choose a partner to do battle with. Some uppity noble girl chose Arashi to duel with. Her magic was water magic. While standing next to each other, they watched Asta and Yuno both take down nobles, as well as nobles battling each other.

Now it was their turn. “I’ll try to go easy on you, peasant,” the noble girl said.

“Do whatever you want,” Arashi was indifferent. 

“Ice magic!” She yelled. “Shards of destruction!”

A bunch of ice shards flung their way towards Arashi. She blocked them. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” The ice shards were blocked and broken by lightning sickle-shaped shots.

The noble girl tsked. “Ice Creation Magic, field of ice!” The floor around them became a thin sheet. Of slippery ice. “Now, Ice Creation Magic, skates!” Blades appeared on the bottom of her shoes as well as in her hands. She skated towards her opponent.

“Storm Dragon Slayer Magic, wings of clouds!” Wings appeared on Arashi’s back, lifting her up off the ground. She flew around a bit as her opponent skated on the ground. The mage kept firing ice daggers and the likes at her. Finally, when she’s had enough, Arashi unleashed, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!” From her mouth came lightning, hail, and wind. It traveled down at the noble so fast that she didn’t have any time to react and was down for the count. As she floated back down, she heard the gasps and murmurs. 

The referee declared Arashi the winner.

When it came to be sorted into squads, out of the group, Yuno was first. Every squad captain raised their hands. “It would be an honor to join the Golden Dawn.”

Asta was next. None of the captains raised their hands. It was getting to be hard to watch as he struggled to find a reason for one of them to pick him. All of a sudden, the captain of the Black Bulls laughed and jumped down into the stadium. “You know, I like you kid,” he declared. “Come join our squad.”

“Really?!” Asta was excited to say the least. His eyes were all starry.

After that was settled, Arashi was called upon. Captains of the Black Bulls, Green Mantis, Blue Rose, Azure Deer, and the Crimson Lion Kings. “It would be an honor to join the Crimson Lions.”

—————

While things were getting settled, Arashi found Yuno defeating the guy who Asta beat.

“Still looking out for our no-mag friend, I see,” she said as she approached him.

“Still arriving late to the party, I see,” Yuno countered.

Arashi chuckled. “Hey, good luck with your dream okay?” She turned to leave him when he called after her.

“Arashi,” he said. She stopped and turned to him. “You’ll be there when I reach it, right?”

“Of course,” she told him before finally going off. 

Sooner or later, she found her new squad captain and squadmates. There were two others who were chosen to join the squad. “Welcome to the Crimson Lion Kings. I’m Fuegoleon, Vermillion, the captain of this squad. I hope to see you three grow into strong Magic Knights. Ready to go?” Fuegoleon questioned.

“Yep.” The three of them answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is welcome at any point, so if you find anything, let me know.


	2. Her new Squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter yay! I hope you guys made it through the first chapter and are liking this story so far.

Once they got there, Arashi’s eyes lit up. Their base looked like a proper, castle-like fort. There was one gigantic mess hall located not too far from the entrance hall. Beyond that were the two very large infirmaries located on either side of the building. The only rooms larger than that were the two enormous libraries, also located on either side of the structure. Also in the building are four kitchens, six training rooms, four magic rooms, and a very, very, very large garden. The captain was nice enough to show her to her room. Which, by the way, is bigger than her room at home (which can’t really even be considered a room).

She mostly kept to herself and often found herself in the garden humming songs from her childhood as she walked amongst the flowers. Either there, or in the sky. While there were two other newbies to the squad, they were nobles, and much more social. Like hell, they’d want to be acquainted with someone from the Boonies. Heck, she even trained by herself, which is actually kind of relaxing. Fuegoleon did have the newbies spare at some point. Arashi won against both of them. Somehow, she feels as if that only pushed them away further. Not a few others though.

To Leopold, that only proved that the two nobles were weaker then they appeared. To Fuegoleon, it solidified Arashi’s greatness in battle. When she asked why he put his hand up for her, he said, “There was something about the determination in your eyes, and the way that you fought that had a certain fire to it... and unlike my brother, I don’t care about status. We are all Magic Knights, we should all be seen as equals.”

”I see, thank you.” Knowing that now, she bowed and walked away.

Before her first mission even began, she volunteered to heal some of her fellow squad mates after they had encountered some diamond members in a mission at the border. “Storm Recovery Magic, rain’s mend.” They looked at her astonished. A small rain cloud had hung over the injured. It softly rained. In no time, they were all fixed up.

Most of them were nice to her. It was definitely out of respect for her magic, and no other reason. They _are_ mostly nobles. Leopold didn’t really take a liking to her at first. He was always going on about why you shouldn’t have picked this squad due to your low birth status.

—————

Her first mission came a week after her being there. Fuegoleon noticed how handy she was with mist and how she could make herself invisible with it. He sent her out to scout some high-stakes bandit group and report back to some of the other lions. They, along with her, would attack them and arrest them before any townsfolk got hurt. Apparently, the bandits wanted a magical item from the people. She took down most of them without breaking much of a sweat.

Her next mission involved cracking down on child traffickers. She was able to use more of her Storm Dragon Slayer Magic. Leopold reluctantly accompanied her and only asked for her assistance if it was for healing purposes. For that one, she got a golden star from the king. A strange deed for him to deal out. Sure there were a lot of kids, and there were a lot of bad guys, but she didn’t see the need in the stars.

Her next mission involved going undercover to crack down on some shady casino dealings. One of her squadmates was able to transform her into a more mature looking lady. After all, Arashi’s actual age is only sixteen. Her colleagues all reported that she had amazing acting skills. She got a star for that one too.

She sent about half of all her earnings to her mother and Akuma.

Of course, there were some missions that required her to use more of her magic. Fuegoleon sent her on a bunch of missions that involved protecting small towns from monsters and bandits.

___________

One day, she overheard one of her squadmates asking another one, “Do you think dragons are real?”

“What makes you say that?” The other squad member questioned.

“Well, dragons were thought of as myths and well, since Arashi’s magic is called dragon slaying magic… I dunno.”

When they noticed that she was standing there, one of them asked, “Arashi, so, what’s your take? Are dragons real or not?” Leopold’s head perked up from his book. The other people in the lounging area awaited her answer. Fuegoleon was there too.

“Hmm?” She looked up from her sketchbook that she bought with some of her payday money. “Oh, I’ve seen a dragon, up close.” She flipped to the page in her notebook that held the very detailed drawing of Easifa on it and showed it to them. She showed it to them.

“What do you mean by up close?” Leopold asked, peering at the drawing in awe.

“Sometimes when a child’s home life gets rough, they wander through the forest. Sometimes, a dragon finds them injured by a tree. Sometimes, the dragon takes the child to its den. Sometimes it trains the child in their magic. And sometimes, the mage becomes powerful. Powerful enough to be deemed the title of my very same magic. Dragonslayer magic.” She got up to stretched and leave the room, adding, "But that's none of my business."

“So you could kill a dragon?” Another one of the members questioned.

“Yes,” she responded. Leopold's interest in Arashi had finally piqued. “And of course, there’s different dragons out there, or at least were. That’s probably why most people have deemed them a myth.”

“What happened to them?” A female squadmate questioned in quiet curiosity.

“Some say it was hunters, others say the dragons killed each other. The most outlandish theory that I’ve heard was that magic made them disappear.”

“And which one would you deem to be the truest?” Captain Fuegoleon asked her, not looking up from his book.

She didn't hesitate. “I’d say that dragons killing each other off seems more likely,” she told them, remembering Easifa’s tale of Acnologia.

—————

It wasn’t until a certain someone returned that Leopold started to actually worry about her.

Karma Akabane had returned from a very long mission. He was just heading through the hall into his room when he saw his younger sister Arashi. Both of their eyes widened. His stayed wide longer, however.

“Arashi?” He questioned.

“What?” His sister's voice was cold.

“Hold on, you both know each other?” Another squad member asked.

“We have the same last name,” they stated simultaneously. “She/he’s my younger/older sibling.”

“Really?” Leopold asked them. “How interesting that a commoner family’s members possess different types of magic.”

“Our brother can use transformation magic,” Arashi inputted.

“Cool. You’re all so different,” a female squad member remarked kindly.

“Well, Arashi’s the odd one out. Us boys inherited our magic from our parents. She probably would have gotten our Old man’s magic if it weren’t for that Dragon,” Karma remarked. He then turned to her. “Why and how are you here anyway?” He asked her. She glared at him, silently saying that was a dumb question. “If I was still around, I don’t think I would have wanted you to become-.”

“You have _no_ right to say that.” Her voice wavered slightly. Signifying to the other squad members that something was wrong. She was usually well-spoken and confident in her words.

“Arashi-“ Karma tried, but he was cut off.

“You left! You left me. You left our brother. And you left our mother alone. With that monster! Our drunk, abusive father!”

“You could take care of yourself-“

“I was six damnit! No, I couldn’t! Mom still loved him.” She began to tear up. “She would have died for him.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “Most days I went to that tiny church and prayed for you to come home. Spoiler alert, you never did,” her voice was gentler now, but laced with venom.

“Hey, I’m your older brother, you know! Shouldn’t that count for something at least?” 

“It should, but it doesn’t.” With that Arashi walked away from them and into the gardens. 

"Did karma catch up with the old man, eventually?"

She stopped. "You didn’t,” she jabbed. “But _it_ did."

Strangely enough, Leopold was the only one who dared to talk with her. But with a menacing look, and cold words, she shooed him away. The teen came back after she watered the plants with her Storm magic. 

It began to rain soon after that. She stayed outside, staring up into the clouds. “You know you’ll catch a cold, right?” One of her fellow lions called from the covered porch. 

“No I won’t!” She projected at the lion. “I’ve stood in storms I haven’t created before. I haven’t gotten a cold then, and I won’t get a cold now!”

He hesitated before projecting, “Okay!” And went back inside.

It dinner time when she finally decided to come back in.

—————

A few weeks later, and after taking down a dungeon all on her own, Fuegoleon said that she should accompany him and Leopold to the capitol. They had to attend the distinguished service ceremony. Her captain wanted her close by in case anyone attacked.

Twenty minutes later, swarms of what looked like corpses sprouted from the cobblestone. _“What are these?”_ She thought. “ _They seem like walking corpses. The undead?”_

“Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Wail shurikens!” A small gathering of storms started spinning in her hands. She flung them at the targets in their chest. Her eyes widened as she saw no effect.

All of a sudden, a giant swarm of them appeared around her. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!” As she spun around to hit all targets, she noticed that only those hit in the head were really down for the count.

“Okay then.” With her arms going up to the sky, she conjured a giant storm cloud. “Now, Storm Dragon Slayer Magic, wrath of the dragon!” From the sky came lightning and hail shards, effectively killing most of the undead.

About thirty minutes later, Fuegoleon contacted her. “Arashi, what’s going on?”

“Swarms of the undead just started popping up everywhere, sir,” she responded. “They’re hard to take down. I’d advise going for the head.” As she carried on her conversation, she let the lightning crash down on the targets.

“Are you the reason why it started raining, hailing, and thundering all of a sudden?” Came an unknown voice.

“Yes. Don’t worry, it’s all being controlled.”

“Whoa! Is that Arashi?!??” Came a very familiar and enthusiastic voice.

“Hey Asta,” she greeted. “Everything alright in there, sir? I felt two distinct immense magical powers coming from your direction not too long ago.”

“Everything’s fine,” Captain Vermillion stated.

Somehow, she knew he was lying. “Heh, sure captain.”

“We need to decide how best to allocate our resources.”

“The castle area takes priority,” another unknown voice stated.

“What’s everyone waiting for?!” Asta yelled at them. “People are getting killed out there and standing around’s not gonna help them. I’m out of here!”

“Asta, wait!” A girl called after him.

“We still don’t have a plan! And besides, what will you do when you can’t sense any magic power?”

“I’m just gonna go wherever it’s loudest!” Asta replied.

“Somehow, I knew he’d say that,” Arashi deadpanned.

“What _are_ you? Some kind of animal?” One of them asked Asta.

Arashi heard Leopold laugh. “Wait up Asta! I’m not gonna miss seeing my rival in action!”

“Oh boy,” the dragon slayer said unenthusiastically. “Should I tell him that he already has a rival?”

“No, I think that can wait,” Yuno stated.

“Oh, you’re there too Yuno? Cool.”

In no time, a plan was set into action. A little while later, the fighting had brought her to her squad mates. She found them as she rode the dragon she created out of storm magic. The mage has it fire out all different kinds of storms at the army of the undead below.

“Captain! Leopold!” She called, just after seeing her captain use flame creation magic.

“Burn to ash!” She heard her captain say. 

Arashi didn’t land. Instead, she just hovered around and fired at the enemy.

“Oh, hey, commoner!” Leopold greeted after casting a spell. The boy still acted as if he didn’t care. As if the day he went to check up on her was just a fluke. That was the only time so far that he had used her actual name. He then went off after he heard Asta yell.

Noticing that her captain and the Black Bull girl had it covered, she went to defeat the undead elsewhere. Somewhere along the way, night turned into day. When she cleared her area, she went back to her people to find that Leopold and that Black Bull girl were fighting a necromancy doll while Fuegoleon and Asta took down this mage. He seemed to be the one who initiated the attack.

With water magic, the Black Bull created a shield as Leopold charged at the doll. Once he got close enough, he cast, “Fire magic! Spiral flames!” With a yell, he succeeded in burning the doll to ash.

“Whoo!” Arashi cheered them on. “Well done you two!” The dragon slayer landed on the ground, dispelling her dragon.

Leopold seemed to not pay her any mind. “It’s over!” He shouted at the mysterious mage. “That ash won’t give us any trouble now!”

“Very well done! You’ve shown your worth as Magic Knights and as royalty” Fuegoleon praises. The two of them saluted. He then turned to Arashi. “Are the streets cleared of those monsters?”

“Yes, sir,” she responded.

“Good.” With that, he turned towards the mysterious mage. 

“No,” the mage was in denial. “Royalty or not, nobody’s stronger than I am! You’ll see!”

Already having enough of this guy, Arashi used wind to propel herself into the air. Once close enough, she kicked him in the face. He wasn’t knocked unconscious, he just has a bit of a messed up face now. Arashi stepped back slightly. “Storm creation magic, binding lightning.” Circles of golden lightning surrounded him. With him taken care of, she went towards his grimoire. Although, the man screamed at him not to go near it, or to even open it. “Interesting. It only has one page.”

“Let me see that,” her captain ordered. She handed it to him. “You’re right,” he noticed. The man skimmed the contents of the page carefully.

When her captain interrogated him, he didn’t give anything away. All of a sudden, Leopold became engulfed in spatial magic. “Spatial magic? Alright then,” he said. “Perhaps now we can get to the bottom of this.”

“Fuegoleon!” His younger brother called after him. He turned towards the man angry. “Where did he go?!” The man laughed.

“Yelling won’t solve anything,” Arashi told him calmly, after placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “The caster of that spatial magic couldn’t be far away. They must be hiding nearby. Come on, let’s go search.”

His muscles relaxed as he agreed.

All of a sudden, Asta ran forward and swung his anti-magic sword at one of the piles of corpses. From that pile, a spatial mage teleported away.

“He was… hiding in the pile of corpses?” The Black Bull girl’s voice was shaky.

“Nice observation skills,” said the mage. “I had a feeling you’d sus out my magical transformations, but I couldn’t even get past you with that shabby putrescent disguise. You really are quite the animal.” The mysterious spatial mage ripped off the skin-mask. “Regardless, it’s already over now.”

“What is?” Leopold questioned.

Spatial magic opened up. Out of the portal came Fuegoleon. Blood practically poured out of the spot where his right arm should be. He plopped to the ground.

Arashi rushed towards him. “Storm recovery magic, Lazarus mist!” Mist covered his entire body. Slowly but surely, his arm began to grow back. The Crimson lion shielded herself and him as Asta went to go fight the spatial mage. Leopold stood there in shock. 

He stood there for way too long. Arashi just decided to slap him out of his trance. Once she hit him, he looked at her less shocked than he was when he stared into the void. “Get yourself together,” she told him. “I know. This is your brother. This is our captain. But you have to keep fighting!” With that, he got back into the swing of things, taking on the guy that had just broken out of Arashi’s bonding spell.

She only focused on making sure the captain was alright. It seemed like hours until the fighting had stopped. Even then, Asta was missing, but not for long. He returned with the wizard king and it seemed they both had new information about the attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Assassination classroom anyone?
> 
> Also, freaking Eye of the Midnight Sun, right guys?


	3. The Dungeon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s dungeon time y’all,  
> and maybe some Mereoleona time?

It’s been months since that day. Luckily, with Arashi’s healing, Fuegoleon’s arm fully grew back, except for his hand, anyway. His loss of blood ceased before anything showed signs of him not being able to pull through. He’s still unconscious. They brought in Leopold and Fuegoleon’s older sister, Mereoleona to be the new captain.

She was almost like a tyrant, and maybe a bit brash, but she seemed like she was very capable of leading. Mereoleona sent Arashi on more fighting kind of missions than infiltration kind of missions. Many of those involved the neighboring kingdoms of Diamond and Spade. The young mage also cracked down on a few smuggling jobs. One of them was while she was off duty. This, Arashi found to be a bit refreshing, and quite fun. Maybe she’s sounding a bit like the Black Bill’s Cheery Berserker, but it was a nice change to go fully to her limits. With two of those missions, Arashi’s been able to gain two more stars, giving her a total of four.

Noticing that Arashi and Karma were still not on good terms, and wanting to change that, Mereoleona sent them on a dungeon raid together. She basically said, “No buts, and you’re going!” Both Akabane siblings finally caved. “Oh, and you don’t have to bring treasure back.”

This dungeon resided on the cliff side of sea-boarding town. A town that was quite charming.

The dungeon looked like an abandoned castle, sitting on the cliff all magestic like. The Akabanes wasted no time. They charged in.

The two of them were met with a great hall. It even looked like an abandoned castle on the inside too. 

“Weird,” they remarked simultaneously. Realizing this, they glanced at each other before awkwardly looking away.

“I wonder how a castle could end up like a dungeon,” Arashi thought out loud. The two of them walked along the halls.

“Well, it might not have been a castle in the first place,” Karma considered. “Karma’s been treating it though. That’s for sure.” After a minute, he stepped on a magic seal. It glowed. “Uh~.”

“Well that’s just great,” Arashi said sarcastically.

All of a sudden, the floor underneath them disappeared. Before they could go splat in the floor filled with spikes beneath them, Arashi cast, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Wings of clouds!” Quickly, she moved to retrieve her older brother.

“Thanks sis-!” She glared at him for a moment. “I mean Arashi.” The two of them landed.

When she let go of Karma, she replied, “You’re welcome.”

They walked down a dark corridor in silence. “Jeez, it’s so dark down here. Weapon magic! Sword of the fire dragon!” From a small portal over his grimoire, he grabbed a sword who’s blade was aflame. “That’s better.” Silence engulfed them again. “Hey, so since the tyrant obviously sent us on this mission to bond, why don’t we talk this out?”

“What’s there to talk about? You left.”

“And I’m sorry for doing that.” She looked at him. “Really. I am. I would’ve come back eventually.”

“Yeah right.”

“Okay, maybe that wasn’t worded right. Look,” he stopped her. “I know. I screwed up. I probably should have come back to beat the old man’s ass, and I thought by being a magic knight, I could do that. I had to work really hard to get where I am. Harder than you.”

“Hush,” she interrupted him gently.

“No, no I will not hush. I’m trying to fix us here.”

“Just shut up. It sounds like something’s down here.” They listened. Sounds that resembled critters scuttling about.

“What is that?” Karma asked quietly. He brought his fire sword farther out in front of him. The Akabanes took slower and quieter steps.

All of a sudden, the leg of a giant crab was visible. They jumped back out of surprise. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” Sickle-shaped highly concentrated lightning hit the giant crab. A crack was made on its shell, but not much damage was done other than that. “Crap.” It swung its huge pinchers at them. 

With his sword, Karma managed to slice it off. The crab scurried away. The two of them gave each other a weird look. Seconds later, hundreds of crabs swarmed at them. Quickly, the mages ran off. 

They then entered a large circular room with three other corridors leading into it. The room had some natural light trickling through. They took a moment to notice this before remembering the enormous swarm of huge crabs scurrying their way.

Arashi steeled herself. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!” The spell ripped through them, but only took out about half of them.

Karma waited for them to get a little closer before casting, “Weapon Magic! Gae Bolg!” A red spear appeared in his hands. He threw it in the direction of the crabs. As the weapon passed through them, the crabs disintegrated. 

Now that the crabs were taken care of, they debated on which corridor to go down next.

“Maybe we should try the door on the left?” Arashi questioned. She gestured to the corridor and looked back at him. 

“Uh, surrre,” he agreed. The two of them walked towards it and soon found out that there were stairs leading downward. Wordlessly, they followed the path. After what seemed like forever, the stairs finally led to a room. 

“Careful, there probably are traps lying around here,” Karma stated.

“Yeah, no shit,” his sister muttered.

Arashi took one step forward and immediately regretted it, seeing a glowing magic circle. Water started filling into the room. “Crap!” They both cursed.

The two of them rushed out of the room and back up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, Karma, out of breath, he leaned against the wall. Wrong choice! A bunch of gigantic tadpoles in the froglet stage. They also had huge fins on their backs.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Arashi whined.

“Weapon magic! A thousand arrows!” From a large portal, Karma summoned a thousand arrows which he fired at the tadpoles, killing most of them.

Arashi took out the rest of them with her Wrath of the Dragon spell. Lightning and hail hit the tadpoles, effectively killing them. She exhaled, “Okay, shall we try the middle passage?”

“Sure.”

This time, stairs lead upwards into a massive circular room. A (What looked like a) magical water horse. Lay asleep in the middle of the room. Around it, lay tons of treasures.

“Whoa, freaky,” Karma whispered. He looked around at all the loot. Wanting to inspect a golden coin, he bent down.

“Karma! what are you doing?” his sister whisper-yelled.

“What are _you_ doing? Trying to wake up that Hippocampus?”

“That’s what that is?” 

“Duh.” Karma reached for the coin and touched it. Once he did, Arashi saw the Hippocampus get up.

“Uh, Karma!” The beast’s eyes glowed red. It charged at them. Quickly, Arashi cast a defensive spell. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Shield of wind!” The two of them were now under a dom of wind. 

The hippocampus stomped on the shield, shot water beams from its mouth, swatted at it with its tail, but the shield did not break.

“Hey, I have an idea,” Karma stated.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“When it gets closer, take down the shield so that I can stab it.”

“Are you sure?” she asked as he conjured up a poisoned tipped blade.

“Yes. Now!” he shouted. The aquatic beast went on its hind legs to bring its hooves down on them, but the two of them dodged. Karma went right for the kill, but it brought up a magic whirlpool. Only for a second, for protection.

“So that didn’t work,” Arashi remarked before she cast, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” Some marks were made, but not much other than that. Right as it was about to shoot a water beam at it, she countered with a storm dragon’s roar. The two spells were completely matched. Neither side gave in. She kept it up for as long as she could so that Karma could go in for the sneak.

The Hippocampus stopped its water beam and dodged both attacks as soon as it felt Karma’s presence near.

Arashi’s eyes widened. She had remembered something. “Karma! You remember that spell that dad and mom pulled off that one time against the giant golem?”

“Uh, yeah? You think that’ll work?” He asked as he dodged another of the Hippocampus’ attacks.

“Yeah!” The two of them made their way towards each other and gathered up their mana. “I don’t see us getting out of here quicker and easier.” Both of their grimoires started glowing. The spell made its way into their books. They joined hands and turned their faces towards the beast. Mana exchanged and messed together creating a single, powerful unite. The hands that faced the beast stretched out towards it while the hands that didn’t folded in. 

“Now!” They said simultaneously. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic!” “And Weapon Magic!” “Unison raid!” a swirl of weapons and storms barreled its way towards the hippocampus. Their combined magic pierced through the beast. 

Once the spell had completed, the water horse dissipated into little blue magic dots. Those dots made their way onto the pages of their grimoires, giving them a new spell. For Arashi, it was a spell that combined rain and wind into a whirlpool. It’s titled, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Whirlpool of the raging seas!”. For Karma, it gave him all sorts of new ocean centered weapons. The siblings looked at each other and smiled, noticing that they both got new spells. Yet, their smiles faded as their minds returned to reality. They’re in an unknown part of the country and their relationship is broken.

They grabbed a few magical items.

As they made their way back out, Karma laughed for seemingly no reason. “The only reason we encountered that golem was because you had left your doll at the picnic spot and you wanted to go back and get it.”

“Oh right! Yeah! Akuma was so scared!”

“So were you. The two of you made a funny looking bunch, quivering in fear of the giant monster.” He acted out being a monster.

“Man. That was back when…” she trailed off. Arashi didn’t need to say it. Karma knew what she meant.

“Whatever happened to the old man anyway?”

“Well, we can just say that Karma’s a bitch.” That made her brother laugh. Together, they flew back to their base, only talking about the good memories.

“You know,” Arashi stated at some point during their journey. “Now that I think about it, I was only mad at you for leaving because you didn’t take us with you.”

He hesitated before responding, “Where I was going, it felt too dangerous to bring you guys with me. Looking back on it now, it might have been the safer choice for you.”

“Yeah, well, at any rate…” she turned to look at him, finding his eyes were already on her. “I forgive you.”

“Tha-thank you,” was his only reply, making her smile softly.

“Do you maybe want to visit our brother and mom one of these days when we get time off?” Little did he know that she sends most of her earnings to them.

“Of course, I’d love to.”

—————

“We’re back!” Arashi hollard.

“Hey guys!” Some of their squadmates greeted. Or at least, it was some variation of that. They all seemed to speak at once that their voices sort of meshed together.

“So, how was the dungeon?” Mereoleona questioned. A grin was plastered on her face. “I heard you both got some new spells.”

The Akabane siblings looked between each other and then back to their squad mates. They were the only possible people who could have secretly followed and watched them. “Oh gee, I wonder who could’ve told you that?” Arashi stated in the most sarcastic voice they ever heard her use. She gave them a death glare and could see some of them break out into nervous sweats. “I swear, if the captain doesn’t do it, I _will_ murder you all someday.”

“Meh, I’d like to think that Karma’ll make its way to them eventually,” her brother reasoned. She always smiled when he made those kinds of jokes.

“So, I take it that you two have sorted everything out?” Captain Mereoleona asked them.

“Yes.” “Yeah.”

“Good. Now get some rest. Both of you have earned it.”

“Thank you captain,” they said in unison before walking off.

And thus began a new page in their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone catch those Fate/Stay Night references?  
> Or the fairy tail references?


	4. The Ceremony and the Volcano

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inuyasha reference time!

A few weeks after Mereoleona made the Akabanes go on that dungeon raid, Arashi found herself singing in the garden of the Crimson Lion Kings base. She sang of an old legend in the language of her father. 

While doing so, she stood looking up at the sky, oblivious that Leopold and Mereoleona were walking and talking in the garden near her. Once she finished the song, Mereoleona stated, “That’s a lovely song.” Arashi jumped in surprise as she realized they were there. “What does it mean?”

“Oh, um,” she struggled to find the words. “It relates to the legend of Horai island.” Both Vermillions looked at each other and sat down on the benches, ready to listen. “Now, this island shifts positions every fifty years. Sometimes it’s by the coast, other times, no one can find it. This island was home to people and yokai, or demons who coexisted, even getting married and having children. Anyway, one day, these four, very powerful mages, who represented the four core elements, Earth, water, wind, and fire, arrived on the island. They called themselves the four war gods. 

“They torment the people, stealing away their magical power. One priestess, by the name of Kanade, was able to seal up their power into four separate jewels. She sealed those in a comb box which she placed a magical barrier around it. She placed that box in what was called the Cauldron of Resonance. A gated opening on the side of a volcano. In sealing this however, she lost her life.

“The cauldron was later corruption by the four war gods, as they used it to sustain their power by sacrificing a Hanyo, or a half-demon child into the flames every fifty years. On the gate, the lyrics to the hymn are engraved. They tell how could rob could only open with the left hand of a demon, and the right hand of a human, simultaneously pulled the two release chains on both sides.”

“Interesting,” stated Mereoleona. “Depending on which year the island comes back, the Eye of the Midnight Suns could be going after them. That is, if this isn’t just a legend.”

“Whoa! Wait, is that it? Come on, commoner, there has to be more than that!” Leopold complained, dissatisfied that that was the ending.

“No, there’s more, but I don’t exactly recall it,” Arashi answered honestly.

“Well, it’s a good thing that I do,” stated Karma, seemingly popping out of nowhere. “There was this small group of heroes,” he explained. “They came to the island because one of the half-demons escaped and sought one of them out. He happened to be a half-demon himself, who traveled there fifty years prior with a priestess named Kikyo. Well, while there, the four war gods gave him this nasty scar on his back of four lashes. With those kinds of marks, only from the war gods of course, one could only enter, they could not leave. The child could only go get him because she didn’t have the marks. 

“Together, and with the surviving kid’s help, they managed to get the gates open and destroy the comb box, defeating the four war gods along with it. That’s the general gist of it. I’m sure there’s a lot more to the story, but Arashi remembered all that she could, which is to say, more than myself.” He turned towards his sister. “Heck I’m surprised that you bothered to keep up the old man’s language. Are you still fluent?”

 **“What do you think?”** She asked him in their father’s language.

 **“Well, gee, I just think that you wouldn’t want to given that he was... who he was,”** Karma replied in the same language.

“That sounds like Captain Yami’s language of the Black Bulls,” Mereoleona muttered. Both siblings turned towards her.

“Eh?” Both Akabanes replied, turning to her in shock.

“What?” She questioned them.

__________

A week after that, it was the Star Awards Festival. Anyone who was anyone came to that. There were games, and food stands, and there were these two people (Whom Arashi thought was from the coast) singing and dancing, just entertaining the crowds. Arashi spent time with her brother the most, and found herself to be in close proximity to Leopold, which she found sort of strange.

At some point or another, people saw the Blue Rose Knights Captain in a drinking match with one of the Black Bulls.

At one point, Arashi and Karma saw a man who looked like them. He even matched Mereoleona’s description of the Black Bulls Captain. It also seemed like he and the Green Praying Manticores Captain had a little bit of a rivalry going on, since both of them were operating food stands.

When that was done, Arashi decided to test her theory by going up near the Black Bulls stand talking to her brother in their father’s native language. **“So, who do you think will win?”**

**“The Golden Dawn for sure.”**

The man looked at them in shock. **“What can I do for you both?”** He questioned them. Arashi smiled, knowing that her theory was correct. This _is_ the Black Bulls Captain.

“Two skewers please,” Karma told him.

“You got it,” the man replied. “Oh and word of advice,” he leaned in to whisper into their ears. “I know you two are magic knights, but that doesn’t mean that people won’t try to bring you down. You two look like muts, so maybe you’re fine but, if people catch you speaking a different language, especially nobles, they will not be your friends.” He quickly gave them their food and said, “Here you go, have a nice evening!”

An hour or so into the night, it was time for the ranking and awards to be dealt out. King Julius stepped out onto the stage. “Thank you all so much for attending!” He used a magical device to amplify the volume of his voice. “The magic knights squads have done some amazing deeds this year. I’m here to recognize them.” In the crowds, people gawked at their king. “And following my announcement, King Clover himself has a few words for you all as well.” The people cheered. “Now then, I assume everyone here is aware that our nation has suffered attacks from both the Spade and Diamond kingdoms. We’re also waging a bitter war against the relentless terrorist organization, known as the Eye of the Midnight Sun. When they advanced on the capitol, many of our people sacrificed their lives. At one point, I even considered canceling this year’s festival, but then it occured to me that this event would be the ideal opportunity to honor all of those who bravely defended this country against our enemies. And so, the moment has come.

“Please welcome the pride of Clover kingdom, our magic knight captains!” Everyone cheered as they all appeared on the stage. Well, all except two. “Captain of the Silver Eagles, Nozel Silva! Captain of the Green Praying Mantis, Jack The Ripper! Captain of the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth! Captain of the Azure Deer, Bill Boismortier! The new captain of the Crimson Lion Kings! Mereoleona Vermillion! The new captain of the Purple Orcas! Kaiser Granvorka! And last but not least! Captain of the Golden Dawn! William Vangeance!” People knew that there were two missing, but the Wizard King decided to move on. 

“Alright! It’s time to announce the standings! In first place, The Golden Dawn!” The people cheered. “Their number of stars was 125!” That’s an improvement of last year’s total, of 96 stars. It would appear the Golden Dawn has managed to pull off an impressive showing once again! And now, please allow me to introduce the highest earner among all the magic knights. Attended by the wind spirit Sylph, a promising newcomer, Yuno!”

“Yeah! Go Yuno!” Arashi cheered. The other members of the Crimson Lion gave her a strange look. “What? We grew up together.”

“And now for the second place winner!” The Wizard King announced. “Our second place winner is! The Black Bulls!” Pure shock engulfed the entire people. “Star total, 101!”

“Huh, good for them, I guess. Great going Asta.” was Arashi’s only reaction. 

In the crowd people doubted that they got all of those stars legally. The singer from earlier from the coast vouched for them. “No they didn’t! The Black Bulls risked their lives to save us from the Eye of the Midnight Suns, so I won’t let you talk about them that way!”

“That’s right and they would never cheat!”

“Yeah! They were a big help to us too!” A random villager projected. “Some of them are kind of rough, but they’re all nice people.”

“I don’t blame you all for being surprised,” stated the Wizard King. “If you’ll recall, just last year the black bulls ended up earning an unprecedented total of negative fifty stars. But this year is different. They’ve accomplished unbelievable feats and risen up through the rankings to claim second place! Then there’s the newcomer who’s especially-oh, their captain is still missing. Hello?” The king called out into the crowd. “Are any of the Black Bulls present tonight?”

A scream erupted from the back of the crowd.It seemed like Asta was thrown into the air judging by the way he had to land on the stage with his sword. The people were silent. “Whew, that was scary,” he stated.

“Oh hey, you made it,” Yuno stated. 

“Sure did. What’s up?” Asta greeted Yuno.

As the people cheered, the two of them had a conversation on the stage. Yet, thanks to the people, Arashi wasn’t able to catch any of it.

“My, that certainly was an exciting entrance, wasn’t it?” The King remarked. “Now let’s applaud the rookie who’s done the most for the Black Bulls this year. Asta!” The crowd clapped and cheered once more. “Yuno and Asta are the top earners among all of the Novice knights, which means they are two new stars to watch. They’ve produced outstanding results considering the fact that they’ve only been knights for half a year. Interestingly, these two are childhood friends from the same home town.”

As some of the members of the crowd said that the two of them were going to do great things and that they were nobility, someone from the Green Praying Mantises called out, “Actually, they’re not but commoners!” Upon hearing everyone’s confusion he explained, “It’s true, ha-ha! The scrawny guy from the Black Bulls doesn’t even have any magic, isn’t that so sad?”

Just as the people started to lose faith in them, Yuno unleashed his close to his full power, amazing everyone in the crowd. He then aimed an arrow made out of wind at Asta who deflected it, sending wing out into the crowd. Asta yelled at his old friend doing that. Arashi’s not sure if she saw correctly, but she’s pretty sure she saw the Wizard King’s eyes start to sparkle. Maybe what they’ve said about him being a total magic geek was true. The people were shocked at how powerful they both were.

“Now that you’ve witnessed their abilities,” the King Julius went on. “I invite anyone who still doubts their worthy ness to please step forward.” Everyone became silent. “Yes, it’s true that these two are commoners, but they’ve worked harder than any of their peers to make it where they are today. Proud citizens of the Clover Kingdom, let us commend these brave knights. Regardless of rank or status, our nation’s path to victory is to join together as one.” Some people cheered and while others just seemed to murmur.

“Now that everyone’s back in a celebratory mood, I’ll go ahead and announce the remainder of the Magic Knights rankings,” the king went on. In third place, the Silver Eagles! With 95 stars. In fourth place, the Blue Rose Knights, with 83 stars. In fifth place, the Crimson Lion Kings with 80 stars. In sixth place, the Green Praying Mantises with 69 stars. In seventh place, the Coral Peacocks with 67 stars. In eight place, the Violet Orcas, with 51 stars. And in ninth place, then Azure Deer with 49 stars.

“And on that note, the magic knights star ceremony has come to an end. I trust our squads will continue doing good work in the coming years…” the captains all left the stage. “Alright, now that we’re finished with the star ceremony announcements, it is finally time.” He gestured to behind him. “The ruler of Clover Kingdom, his majesty the king!”

No one cheered and quite frankly, neither Arashi nor Karma paid much attention to what he had to say. By they did pay attention to what Mereoleona said to the entire squad after the ceremony. Her entire body became engulfed in flames.

“The Crimson Lions in fifth place?! HOW COULD YOU HUMILIATE US THAT WAY?!?! I have half a mind to annihilate the whole lot of you!” She then went on to insult Fuegoleon, but her words sort of strung together. “THAT BROTHER OF MINE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BUFFOON!! HOW COULD HE HAVE PRODUCED SUCH A PACK OF COWARDS?!?! And now I have the pleasure of looking after you sad sacks while he’s off taking a nap! Fuegoleon’s not fit to be your captain!”

“Hold on! That’s not true!” Leopold defended their sibling. “My brother was the finest captain we ever could have asked for!”

“That’s right!” Seconded Ben. “Fuegoleon’s the kind of person that every magic knight should aspire to be!”

“He cared about _every_ member of this squad and the Clover Kingdom more than anyone else I’ve met in my life! If you ask me, that man’s the greatest magic knight in the whole country!” Stated Gareth.

“That’s why I refuse to let you talk about him that way! Even if you are-!” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Mereoleona snaked him on the head. 

“Well then, if you feel that strongly about him, then you’d better give me less talk and more action! Show me you’re the strongest team in the kingdom! Lead by the strongest captain! The numbskull isn’t going to die! That would mean abandoning his country _and_ the Crimson Lion Kings! So until he returns, I want every one of you to show our mighty ranks! It’s my job to work you to the bone while my brother’s away. And that’s exactly what I plan to do! Don’t you dare let me down!”

“Yes Ma'am!!” Every member told her.

“Now then,” her fire died down. “Off to the Hot Springs Training Camp.” Arashi’s eyes widened. She’s heard about that place. The hot spring sits on top of a volcano. A volcano which is very much a Strong Magic Region, and very much filled with monsters, and very much active.

Leopold and Arashi shared a look.

“Whoa that sounds like the funnest training camp in the world!” Came Asta’s voice apparently he and Yuno have been snooping this entire time. 

Arashi got up. “And what do you two think you’re doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your own squads?”

“But Arashi, I thought we were friends~!” Asta half-whined. “And this hot springs thing sound really cool~!”

“Oh, we still are, but...” she saw her captain move towards her friends. “Oh well, I guess it’s too late to deter them now.”

“I heard that,” Mereoleona stated, flame claws begun to take hold of Asta’s head. They turned him around so that he could face her. “You’re coming with us kid.”

“How’s that work?! You tryin’ to kidnap me???” Asta had begun to feel extremely nervous. “I mean not that I wouldn’t love to… it’s just that we’re from different squads and it’s dangerous to go places with strangers.”

“Hey! I’m not a stranger!” Arashi yelled at him.

“Asta!” Leopold appeared behind his sister. “Are you gonna join my squad and as my official rival?”

“No,” the boy’s voice cracked.

“I’m out. This doesn’t involve me. Later,” Yuno tried to skip out. He walked off, but Mereoleona’s flame claws had grabbed onto him as well.

“Both of you,” Captain Mereoleona decided.

Yuno’s wind spirit, Sylph decided to try and bad mouth the captain, but was nearly shot down by flames.

“Once my sister sinks her claws into you, there’s no hope of escaping,” Leopold stated rather eerily. “She doesn’t care for war, she’s not interested in politics. That’s why she never really took center stage in our family. But when she does fight, she’s arguably stronger than our brother. They call her the Uncrowned Undefeated Lioness Mereoleona Vermillion.”

“And I think I’m gonna call you rookies 1 and 2,” she said to Asta and Yuno. “Now let’s hit the hot springs and see what you’re made of.”

A few moments later, the captain managed to grab the Blue Rose Captain as well as that woman always calling her Char. Also, she grabbed the Black Bulls Captain and the one Fuegoleon dubbed “Black Bull Girl.”

“This volcano is a Strong Magic Region,” Mereoleona explained to them. “Deep underground are volcanic belts laced with mana, and constantly spewing out lava. Normal human’s can’t set foot in this place. But if you reach the peak, you’ll find the most fantastic and revitalizing hot spring you can imagine. How’s that! Are you getting excited? Come! Let’s head for the summit!”

“No way, this place is a nightmare!” The Blue Rose woman stated. She then seemed to think about something and changed her mind. This was followed by her captain telling her, “Call me Captain, Sol.”

“Rodger, Char!” Sol said to her. At that, Arashi smiled.

“I say we make it a race to see which one of us gets to the summit first,” projected Leopold. His face was already covered in sweat. Honestly, who’s wasn’t? “You game Asta?”

“Sure I can stand to blow off some steam,” Asta replied, truly not knowing what he was in for. “I’m ready when you are!”

“Hey, Golden boy!” Leo pointed around Yuno. “Are you in or what?” Yuno stayed silent. “Aw man I forgot. He’s mister cool,” he muttered, thinking that no one heard him. “Killjoy,” Leo decided.

“Yeah, but you get used to it,” Asta replied.

Mereoleona kicked them both forward and yelled at them to get going already.

Taking the hint, Arashi turned towards her older brother. “Ready Karma?” She asked.

“Of course, Let’s get this over with,” he said. The two of them made mana skins for themselves as Arashi created a dragon made out of storm magic. Karma stepped on. The two of them left but were outmatched in speed by Captain Yami and Captain Charlotte.

As rocks flung themselves at the Akabanes. Karma protected himself and his sister as she kept the Storm dragon going. There’s no doubt that she’s going to have to keep this up and not attack if she wants to have mama left by the time she reaches the top.

When she did reach it, her captain, as well as the other captains, and Yuno were already there. Then, Leopold, Noelle, and Asta appeared (in that order). By the time it was way into the night, the rest of the Crimson Lions arrived. After yelling at the other squad mates, and telling them to do it again tomorrow, Mereoleona allowed everyone to go into the hot spring.

All of a sudden, the hot spring pool filled with water. Asta gawked at the sheer size of it all. “This is the coolest hot spring I’ve ever seen!” He went on to say.

“It’s something, alright,” Yuno agreed.

“These are extremely restorative waters,” Mereoleona informed. “The best in the kingdom. But not just anybody can waltz in here. It’s very exclusive. A rare and special treat.”

“That’s only because people either turned back or got killed on their way up here,” Yami pointed out.

“Alright! Imbeciles!” Mereoleona went on. “Get naked!”

Arashi’s eyes widened. Others complained. From her left, Akabane heard Sol say, “I’m not gonna let a bunch of men see Char’s rockin body.” She then cast a spell that split the hot spring in two.

After that, the men and women went to their respective sides.

“The view is pretty spectacular isn’t it?” Arashi’s captain pointed out.

“It sure is,” Arashi agreed.

“And the water temperature is just right,” Captain Charlotte commented.

“Oh wow, did I die and go to heaven?” Sol questioned nobody.

“Ah, there’s nothing better than a refreshing drink while you soak in a hot tube,” Mereoleona stated. She then turned to the Blue Rose Captain. “Charlotte, you wanna knock one back?”

“No thank you, I’ll pass,” the blonde told the redhead.

Arashi made her way towards Noelle. They haven’t introduced each other yet. When she got there, Sol was washing her hair and telling her how the Blue Rose Knights are mostly women and that the men of the squad were mostly errand boys. How pitiful. Once Sol saw Arashi, she hollard, “Hey, you should join the Blue Rose Knights too!”

“Thank you, but I’ll pass,” Akabane stated kindly.

“Do you like hanging around men _that_ much?” Sol questioned.

“No, I just grew up a Tom boy with more guy friends than gal friends, and I’ve somehow tended to keep it that way.”

“Hey, wait, you’re Arashi, right?” The Silva girl asked.

“Yes,” Arashi replied. “And you’re Noelle?” The silver-haired girl nodded. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“And you. Asta always tells us how brave and powerful you are despite-“ she stopped herself.

“What has he told you?” Akabane asked the noble girl in a low voice.

“Nothing much, just that you came to the church every day to pray that your father would disappear, or die, or get arrested, and that your big brother would come back,” Noelle explained. 

The dark haired girl exhaled in relief. “Okay, good.”

“I haven’t had the best home life either,” the noble girl admitted. She had fully washed out her hair now. The two young women walked back to the captains. “My siblings were always bullying me for not being able to control my powers.”

“I see.”

“What was it like, growing up with Asta?”

“It was definitely something,” Arashi almost chortled. “The top three things that that boy said the most was, ‘Will you marry me sister Lily?’ And, ‘Not yet! I’m not done.’ Oh! And let’s not forget: ‘I wanna become the wizard king!’”. 

Noelle laughed. “That’s definitely Asta alright.”

“Not to mention the times Asta got into fights,” Akabane continued. “I had to get him out of those and or finish his fights for him. Either me or it was Yuno who did it.” 

With a flip of her hair, and a turn of her body, Arashi somehow managed to unintentionally show them the massive scar on her back. They all saw it, and they said nothing. They knew who could have caused it and chose to leave it at that.

“Arashi,” Mereoleona addressed her squad knight. “I’ve heard that you were sort of raised by a dragon, is this true?” The other women, curious, wanted to hear her answer.

“Yes. Yes it is true,” she stated. “I would often find myself wandering through the forest, especially after-nevermind, anyway. This one time, I was injured really bad. I just had to get away from my house. I wasn’t really all that strong at magic yet, so I think I just passed out at one point. The next thing I knew I was in a lake-side cave. A dragon had healed me up. I remember asking her, ‘You really healed me? How’d you do it?’ and she, the dragon, Easifa, is a she. And Well, she would always tell me to run along home but to come back so that she could show me.” It was at this moment that she realized that nobody was talking except her. “I-I’m not sure how many times I went back, or how many times I stayed there for a day or days on end, but even before I had my grimoire, I was able to learn spells. I became so powerful that Easifa deemed me a dragon slayer. Thus is my magic, Storm Dragon Slayer Magic.”

“That’s quite the tale,” Captain Mereoleona admitted. The fairy had passed out due to drunkenness (most likely) and well Charlotte— (Arashi doesn’t know why she’s passed out).

“Uhm, thanks, I guess.”

Noelle sighed. She was looking up at the sky. “Beautiful stars,” she said out loud.

“Lady Acier was especially fond of the view of the night sky from here,” Mereoleona told the silver haired girl.

Noelle gasped. “My mother came here?” She turned towards the Crimson Lion. “I didn’t know.”

The redhead took another sip of her alcohol. “She did indeed. In fact, she’s the one who told me about this place to begin with.”

“What kind of person was she? I wanna know everything.” Silva turned away. “I mean, no one ever tells me anything about her, so I’m kind of in the dark.”

“She was very strong.” That made Noelle turn around again. “She made me lessons I’d never be victorious against her, besides the fact that my magic affinity should have given me an advantage. The steel princess whirled around the battlefield. Acier Silva. Her strength and beauty captivated one and all.” The redhead studied Noelle a little. “I’m terms of her looks, you resemble her a lot. Spitting image even. But your magic power’s another story. Your control is sloppy. Makes it hard to believe you’re her daughter. Her magic was refined to an unparalleled degree. It was so dignifying. Despite your royal status, your magic is ugly.”

“How strange that you’ve managed to praise her mother and insulted Noelle’s magic all on the same thought train,” Arashi muttered.

“You’re a different story missy,” Mereoleona told the Akabane sibling almost threateningly. “It’s controlled, yet untamed. I’m not sure about how refined it is though. Anyway, both of you, work hard, improve.” She lightly tapped her fist against Noelle’s forehead. “You might not have her strength, but you’re enough like her that you can overcome that.”

“Okay,” Silva nodded. A smile on her face. 

A few minutes later, a strange noise came from the other side of the rock wall. “Um, what was that?” Noelle questioned

“It sounds like those disgusting men!” Sol concluded.

“Ah~.” Mereoleona said. “They’re so determined in the face of certain death. Maybe there’s some hope left after all.”

“They’re coming here to peep at us,” Noelle thought she needed to point out.

Soul stepped out of the water, her grimoire at the ready. “Well they won’t get a peak at Char’s immaculate body that’s for sure. Stone magic! Rock wall.” She made the wall higher and wider. Arashi couldn’t help but smile at the opposite gender’s defeat.

—————

Once everyone had come down the volcano, Mereoleona stopped Yami from leaving. “Yami, two of my squad members told me about an interesting legend the other day, and I was hoping if you could verify it.”

Hearing this, Karma and Arashi stayed behind to eavesdrop. Once their captain finished telling the story, they heard Yami exhale the smoke before saying, “Ah, yes, the good old tale of the Mystic Island. It’s possible that the island could exist, but, if those gems really were destroyed, then I don’t see why we should go and investigate. It’s in another country after all. Besides, if the Eye of the Midnight Suns caught wind of this myth and they believed it, then they probably didn’t bother going to look.”

“I see.” Mereoleona rose from her spot. “Thank you for your time.”

“Mmhmm.”

Just when the Akabanes were about to slip away unnoticed, big flame paws took hold of their heads. “And just where do you think you two are going?”

“Nowhere m’am,” Karma told her. 

“We just wanted to hear what you both were saying about that legend,” Arashi inputted.

Their captain chuckled and the paws let go. “You’re both off the hook, for now.”

“Yes Ma'am,” the siblings stated simultaneously.


	5. Visitors from Fiore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairy Tail time!

A week after that, the Akabane siblings, along with Leopold were tasked with guarding a noblewoman. He acted as if he wasn’t happy about being stuck with commoners, but Arashi could tell that she and her brother were starting to grow on him. It was the noblewoman's birthday and a ball would take place, but her father has many enemies, being a retired Magic Knight, so he wanted her to be protected. 

_“H-hey, Arashi are you okay?”_ She remembers him asking.

 _“What’s it to you? I’m just a commoner, right? Did Fuegoleon send you? No, if he wanted words from me he would have come here himself. You clearly dislike me, so why don’t you just go away?”_ Those were the words she had said to him. She pushed him away without noticing that he actually used her name. It wasn’t until later when she reflected on that moment when she realized this. Looking back at that moment now, “Tch.”

The trio was currently on their way to their manor.

“What’s this guy’s name again?” Karma questioned, breaking the silence. He sat on his broom with one leg dangling. The other was folded on the broom, knee pointing up and foot facing forward on the wood.

“You _don’t_ remember?” Arashi asked. “His name is Jude Heartfilia.”

“Right,” her brother stated. He remembered something he heard about him. “If he’s a powerful mage, then why doesn’t he protect her himself? Or better yet, why can’t _she_ protect herself.”

“Honestly, she probably can,” Arashi stated. “Her father’s just overprotective.”

“He lost a leg from on the battlefield,” Leopold answered Karma’s first question. “The best healer in both his home country and this one couldn’t heal him.”

“Wait, home country?” Arashi wanted clarification. “So, they live over there, but occasionally come here, I’m guessing?”

“Yep, in fact, their home country is Fiore.”

“That’s kind of far, isn’t it?”

“A little.”

“And what’s _her_ name?” Karma questioned.

“Lucy,” Leopold and Arashi answered simultaneously.

—————

Upon arriving, they thought they were in a small village. A small village with a giant mansion, a small hedge maze, and a large statue of a woman at the maze’s center. The Knights found clients on the patio. Stairs from the beginning of the maze led up to it.

“Ah, there you are, good afternoon,” Lord Heartfilia stated. He sat in a wheelchair.

“Good afternoon, sir,” Leopold responded.

“I trust that you three will take good care of my daughter?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Good. Now, I have some business to attend to. The party starts in two hours.” With that, the lord used wind magic to move up the stairs that lead to the mansion.

“You must be Lucy,” Arashi approached.

“Indeed I am,” she answered. Now that she was looking at her, Akabane noticed that she quite resembled the statue in the center of the maze. “And you are?” 

“My name is Arashi Akabane,” the mage responded before gesturing to Karma. “This is my brother, Karma.”

“That’s quite the name,” Lucy stated. Her eyes traveled to Leopold. “Hello there little lion.”

“Hey Luc,” the Vermillion boy greeted.

“Little lion?” Karma questioned. Before he could even respond, they both heard Arashi laugh.

“Oh my god, that’s so cute,” she said between laughter. “So I take it, you know each other?” Arashi asked after settling down.

“My family may have come here once or twice,” Leopold answered her.

“Our moms were friends,” Lucy stated. Arashi couldn’t help but notice the Noblewoman look at the statue with love in her eyes. The peasant realized that the statue in the maze was of her mother. Judging from the context clues, Arashi guesses that she had passed on.

“You have a lovely estate,” Arashi remarked.

“Isn’t it?” Lucy rhetorically asked. “I can give you a tour if you’d like.”

“That would be great, thank you.” Wordlessly, the boys followed them.

The stairs lead to a larger patio which is connected to a gigantic ballroom with giant windows that gives a wonderful view of the garden. A part of the floor was raised up a little. The grand piano that stood there didn’t fill up the entire space. Stairs sat close to the left wall.

The four of them went down a hall with many paintings and portraits. They were about to go into what looked like a comfortable sitting room when someone approached them.

“Hey, Lucy,” a man with pink hair called out.

She ran to him with open arms. “Natsu! I’m so glad you could come.” They hugged and kissed. With arms linked, they approached the Magic Knights. “This is Natsu,” she introduced them. “He’s a friend from Fiore, and a fellow guild member.”

“Guilds?” Arashi questioned.

“You have Magic Knight Squads, we have guilds.”

“Ohhh, okay.”

Once they got close enough, both Arashi’s and Natsu’s grimoires glowed. Upon taking hers out, and glancing at the other, she noted out loud. “Your grimoire has a dragon on it.”

“Yours does too,” he realized.

“Are you a dragon slayer?” They simultaneously asked each other. Then, the two of them smiled. The question did not need answering.

“Come on,” Lucy suggested for the other magic knights. “Let’s leave these two to talk for a little bit.” They followed her.

Arashi and Natsu went inside the sitting room. “I had a feeling that there were more out there, I just didn’t know if that were true. Easifa, the Storm dragon who trained me, said that she had no way of knowing and that Acnologia wiped out most of them.”

“Huh,” Natsu stated. “I always thought that the dragons originated in Fiore since I know five other dragon slayers who live in the country.”

“Wait, seriously!? Damn, yeah, I guess you’re right. So far, I’m the only one of me I know. Well, actually, now I know you.”

“So then maybe, Easifa chose to flee Acnologia and ended up here, who knows.”

“What elements are the other dragon slayers?”

“Well, there’s Gajeel, the metal dragon slayer. Wendy, the wind dragon slayer. Sting, the light dragon slayer, Rogue the dark dragon slayer, Laxus, the lightning dragon slayer, and Erik, the poison dragon slayer.”

“Cool.”

“So you’re really all alone out here? There’s no other dragon slayers around?”

“Yep.”

“Well, that’s too bad. Hey, if you ever get time off, why don’t you come visit Fiore? Our guild’s name is Fairy Tail, we’re in Magnolia if you ever want to swing by.”

“Sure, I’ll definitely want to go one of these days.”

“Natsu!” A mysterious voice yelled out of nowhere. “Jude needs you in his study.”

“Well, I gotta go.” He got up from his seat. “I’ll catch you later.” 

“Yeah.” And with that, Arashi was left alone in the room. She left too and went to go search for her squadmates.

——————

It was two hours later. Party members started to pour in. The three magic knights took their posts. One thing that Arashi noticed from the crowd was that even though this was a noblewoman’s party, nobles _and_ commoners came. Even if the commoners didn’t have anything nice to wear that was noble-level, they wore the nicest clothes that they had.

Arashi stood posted outside the ballroom by the large patio. All of a sudden, a group of small kids ran past her. It was one after the other. The second one bumped into the dragon slayer and almost brought her down. 

“Oh, sorry!” The young child said to her he looked to be about eight. He had short blonde hair.

“Oh, no it’s okay,” she told him.

“Lucas, what are you doing?” A little girl with salmon pink hair questioned. He seemed about the same age. “Ken’s just around the corner.”

Just as the little girl said, a boy with dark blue hair came running up to them. The other two ran away. He too seemed to be in the same age group. The dark bluenette was able to catch up to Lucas any way and yell, “Tag!” 

The blonde decided to go after the salmon haired girl. She went to hide behind me. The boy then proceeded to go after the other one who had just slipped into the small hedge maze.

“I wish I was tall enough to dance in there,” she stated.

“Tell you what, I’ll dance with you out here,” Arashi suggested.

“Really?” The girl’s eyes lit up.

Arashi looked over at the ballroom. “Perfect timing too, they just started a new song.” She pulled the girl out a little further away from the ballroom for more space.

“But I don’t think I know the steps.”

“That’s alright, I’ll tell them to you.” First, they curtseyed. “Take my hand, we’re going to go for a slight walk,” they turned towards the ballroom and walked with Arashi’s count. “One two three, one two three, step. Together.” They were facing each other now. “Now we go the other way. Step, hop. Step, hop, and out and under.” Surprisingly, they were almost able to pull that off with the size and height difference. “Not quite. Now this way,” they changed directions. “Hop, step, hop step, and under…” 

They almost made it when a familiar voice requested, “May I?” 

Arashi turned around to see Leopold. Exactly why he wanted to dance with her was a mystery. Perhaps he really does think of her more highly now? She smiled slightly, and could tell that he had the slightest hint of a blush. He extended a hand, which she took. They started dancing. He led her the other way, every two steps they looked at each other with almost serious faces. They moved sort of stiff. 

They stopped and fully faced each other. “What are you doing?” Arashi asked him in a low voice.

“I was trying to get away from one of the party members. If she sees me dancing with you, then she might take a hint and leave,” was his answer. She did not reply. It was pretty believable, and seemed like something he would do, yet somehow, she didn’t really believe it.

After a half-second beat, they hop stepped in the direction they just came from. She could barely believe he was dancing with her. Even though he said this was all a ploy to get rid of someone. Especially considering their different status. Him, a noble, and her a commoner. 

Their hands crossed and they spun, untangling their limbs. Then, he held one of her hands up and she started spinning. They went back the way they came. She still couldn’t believe this was happening. Arashi finally noticed her heart beat going quicker. All of a sudden, she was glad to have taken dancing lessons during one of her time offs. 

He grabbed her other hand and stopped her from spinning. His right hand held hers at her waist while his left hand held hers near his shoulder. They switched directions. They spun and stopped. She stepped one way while he stepped the other. The two of them then switched. They spun around so that their hands and arms had crossed. Now they finally smiled at each other. They repeated stepping in different directions.

He lifted his arms and she crossed under, untangling them. Their arms crossed again. He spun her, their hands held higher than their heads. She noticed both of them getting more and more comfortable with dancing with one another.

Suddenly, a child screamed. They froze with widened eyes. “That came from beyond the maze,” Arashi noticed. Quickly, their hands came apart. The magic knights looked back at the girl who watched them.

“What’s going on?” The girl questioned.

“Stay there, we’ll look.” Together, they searched for the child.

The child screamed again.

A few minutes later, Leopold yelled, “Arashi! I think I found him!” That was the second time he addressed her by name.

“What color is his hair?” She yelled back while thinking, _“Did it slip his mind? Or did he mean to call her by her name?”_

“Blonde! Why?”

“There was another one with him, his hair is navy blue,” she projected.

As she ventured farther and farther away from the house, Arashi realized something. “Leo!!” She screamed, not knowing where he was. 

“Yeah?” His voice was at a regular speaking volume. He emerged from the trees. She turned to him.

“This is their plan. They’re trying to split us up so that they could attack the mansion. You head back, I’ll stay and look for Ken.” She noticed that Lucas was with him. “You should go back to and stay with your sister.” The little boy had a very worried expression. She knelt down to his level and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll find him, alright?” Lucas nodded.

The boys ran off, and alone she was again.

Soon, she spotted a man dragging away the child. “Storm dragon slayer magic,” she muttered, trying not to give her position away. “Storm dragon’s turbulent fist.” Mana aided her as she leaped forward with and with a fist covered in storm clouds she punched the mysterious figure in the face. He was knocked out cold.

“Are you alright?” She asked as she knelt down to meet Ken’s eyes. Wordlessly, he nodded. Noticing that he wasn’t speaking, she asked, “Are there others around?” He nodded.

Reaching out into the void, she felt a strange presence. Quickly, she turned, keeping the boy close to her. Whoever thought they could get the drop on her was wrong. In the darkness, she sees clear as day. “Show yourself!” She called out.

An explosion came from the mansion. Arashi could hear people screaming as they ran outside.

Water shot out from behind a tree. With lightning sparking around her hand, she blocked the attack open-palmed. From another direction, a boulder flew at her. She used the wind to push it in the direction of the water caster. It was blocked. From a fourth direction came fire. Arashi cast heavy rain over herself as a protective shield. 

Suddenly, all three mages attacked at once. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Protective wing clouds!” Clouds came from her back and engulfed her. An onslaught of the three elements came at her, but her shield did not break. The attacks stopped. All of a sudden, a massive amount of water came her way in a beam. She let the shield drop. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Whirlpool of the raging seas!” The water was picked up by Arashi’s wind magic. It surrounded her and lifted her up. She stood atop the whirlpool with glowing eyes. With a stomp, she aimed a mini tsunami at the fire mage. He was drowned. 

Somehow, the spell froze and broke apart. She fell. Before she could even hit the ground, a large rock had hit her in the side. She rolled messily onto the ground. Arashi got up and cast, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” She aimed the sickle-shaped concentrated lightning at both of her opponents. They blocked the attack with their own element. 

The water mage attacked next. They aimed another water beam at her. She jumped and turned sideways to dodge. She then made the water beam into hail shards and turned them around. “Storm Dragon Slayer magic! Wrath of the dragon!” Along with the hail shards came lightning and wind. The water mage was taken out.

Last but not least, the earth mage remained. One after the other, four giant blocks of rock were hurled at her. She dodged one, and destroyed the other ones. He came closer. A much larger rock was aimed at her. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s Roar!” The beam of hail, lightning, and wind barreled through the rock. When the smoke cleared, he was knocked out. She gathered the four mages together and put a binding spell on them.

An explosion sounded in the direction of the mansion once more. “Come on,” she said to the dark bluenette. As they got closer, she saw fire magic, water magic, ice magic, weapon magic, and-- some kind of spirit magic!?

When they got there, Karma and Leopold were typing up the intruders. 

“Well, glad to see you guys took care of things. I was beginning to worry,” Arashi told her squadmates.

“Mommy!” The little bluenette kid ran towards a woman with lighter blue hair.

The Knights gathered the assassins and said their goodbyes. A few hours later, they arrived at the capitol and handed the assassins over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Arashi's not alone anymore!
> 
> Leopold X OC???? or no?  
> Comment below!


	6. The Cursed Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are in a dream, regular texts are not

Arashi had just come back from a mission and she was dead tired. One of the bandits she fought could use curse magic. She spent most of her mana defeating him, after she had defeated everyone else.

Now, as she lay in her bed, she drifted off into a dream.

__________

_ The sound of a belt hitting flesh hit Arashi’s ears. She took note of her surroundings. Then, she heard Akuma’s scream. She ran to the noise, now realizing that she was at least seven years old. Their father insulted Akuma, calling him a monster, a good-for-nothing, and said that he didn’t deserve to live. He was about to strike the boy again when Arashi intervened. _

_ “Please, dad,” she said. “Stop.” _

_ “Get out of my way, this doesn’t concern you,” his father told her. _

_ “Yes, it does!” _

_ Slap! With how little she was, and how she didn’t really have all that much magic power, she was knocked to the ground. He stepped closer to her, then right into her strike zone. She got up and clap-stunned him. He fell backwards. She then moved to grab something--anything to defend herself. A Knife! Her father got up and grabbed her. _

_ The next few moments were a blur, but when everything refocused, she saw her father laying there dead on the ground with a cut on his wrist. A cut that she had made. Arashi looked over to Akuma. He sat there stunned. _

_ Her mother stormed in and gasped at what she saw. “What have you done!?!” In these days, when Arashi and Akuma were seven or so, their mother still loved him.  _

_ “Mom-” she tried. _

_ “Get out of my house!!” _

_ “But mom, I don’t understand-” _

_ “I said get out! You have no place here anymore.”  _

_ A tear rolled down Arashi’s cheek as she ran off. _

__________

Karma was now pounding on her door, telling her to wake up. After the tenth attempt, he breaks down the locked door to find his younger sister tossing and turning in her sleep. She screamed. He tried shaking her to get her to awaken, but that didn’t work.

All of a sudden, Leopold came in, saying, “Arshi, come on, you’ve missed breakfast by now-” the redhead stopped himself when he saw the state she was in.

“Get the captain,” Karma said to him. Leopold sprinted off.

A few moments later, Mereoleona was brought into Arashi’s room by Leopold. Karma told her what happened. Her hand held her chin as she stood there in thought. “And you just found her like this?” She questioned.

“Yeah,” Akabane answered

“I see… It would be best if we brought her to Owen.”

“‘The best healer in the country Owen?’” Karma questioned. “How will he help? She isn’t injured.”

“Yeah? Well how would you know?” Leopold asked him. “Did you see her last night? Because I didn’t.”

“I only saw her enter her room,” Karma stated. “And I don’t see any bloody clothes around here. He checked the wardrobes and was reminded by the fact that Arashi never liked to wear dresses.

“He’s the only one I can think of that can help,” Mereoleona stated.

__________

_ Young Arashi was now climbing a tree. She was nearing the top when something happened. All of a sudden, she was falling to the ground. _

_ “When you’re falling in a forest, and there’s nobody around, do you ever really crash or even make a sound?” That was her voice. It seemed slightly older now. _

_ “I think you and I remember that moment differently,” Easifa told her.  _

_ “I’m not sure I follow. I was climbing this big tree and all of a sudden, a branch snapped-” _

_ “Arashi. Did you fall? Or did you let go?” _

_ “I-” _

__________

“Well, she definitely is dreaming,” Owen told them as he checked over her vitals. “Or rather, having a nightmare, really.”

“And that’s all it is?” Mereoleona questioned.

“What was her last mission?” Owen asked.

“It involved bandits. Rumors were that one of them used curse magic.”

“Well then, maybe that’s it, isn’t it?”

“So… my sister was cursed?” Karma asked.

“It appears to be that way yes.”

“What kind of curse?” leopold questioned.

“I’d say it was either a nightmare curse, which as the name implies, gives the receiver nightmares. It could be a remembrall curse, where the receiver goes into a deep sleep and remembers only the bad stuff. Or, it could be the time reviewall curse, where the victim is forced into a deep sleep as their mind goes over certain events and makes changes. Or, or it could be a combination of two or all of those.”

“Curse mages can do that?” Karma asked.

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” He looked back at the patient. “We can’t force her to wake up, though. She has to wake up on her own.”

“Seriously?!” both Karma and Leopold were done with this.

“Yeah. However, there’s no telling when she’ll wake up.”

“Really?!” they both yelled again. Owen only nodded. The teenage boys groaned in frustration.

__________

_ Arashi, now seventeen (her current age) was now in a white room. Suddenly, a bright white light appeared. “Choose,” it told her. _

_ “What?” she asked, confused. _

_ “You have to choose.” two small coffee tables appeared. One held a piece of raw meat while the other held a knife. _

_ Suddenly, a growl emerged behind her. Upon turning around, she found a blue wolf with ram horns, giant crow wings and a snake for a tail. She picked the meat. The wolf went up to her slowly and took the piece of meat in its jaw.  _

_ Next, a small child appeared out of thin air. The beast leaped towards her, its claws ready to be used as murder weapons. It got to the little girl before Arashi could. The little girl’s body disappeared. Next, it turned towards her and suddenly, the knife was in her hands. It jumped on her, getting stabbed by the weapon she just so happened to be carrying. With the corpse in her arms, she sank down to her knees. It changed into Akuma. Tears flooded her eyes as she wailed. Everything faded to black. _

__________

Arashi’s body had started to thrash again before stopping. A few seconds after that, tears flooded in her eyes. The three Crimson Lion Kings have been there for just about three hours.

“What could you be seeing?” Karma wondered as he sat by her hospital bed. 

__________

_ She now felt as if she was sinking. Sinking in her own mind, as if someone had taken control over it. The Magic Knight watched helplessly, unable to move, as whoever was controlling her body murdered Karma. _

_ The next target was Leopold. They fought on a bridge. The redhead talked to Arashi as if he was trying to reason with someone who had just gone mad. _

_ Finally, Arashi was able to regain control. “R-run, Leopold. I can’t control this much longer.” Her body began to shake. Her hold on the knife dwindled. _

_ “Yes you can,” he said to her. “You can fight this!” _

_ She yelled as she lost her body to the mysterious presence again.  _

_ Leopold was gone, and so was whoever took control over her body. She now stood in a field of fire. A shadow that wasn’t her own stalked her. _

_ “Hey, get back here!” She shouted at it. The knife reappeared in her hands. Arashi chased the shadow through the ever growing halls of fire. The fire was making it difficult for her to breathe. Her once quick steps had slowed to feeble ones. _

_ When she finally caught the shadow, she wasted no time in killing it. _

_ The flames stopped, revealing that she was in some part of the capital. Buildings she once shopped at now lay there in ruins. A tune she couldn’t quite place, and never heard before filled her ears. She felt so alone. Light engulfed her as she felt her spirit being lifted somewhere. _

__________

Arashi woke up with a start and a gasp. She recognized that she wasn’t in her own bed. She also saw her captain, Leopold, Karma, and Owen standing and sitting around her. “Hey guys,” she said almost weakly. 

“Hey, Arashi,” Karma said. She turned to him, remembering in her dream how the possessed version of her killed him.

“How long was I out?” 

“Only about twelve hours.” Her brother said to her.

“Twelve? Jesus Crist.”

“What happened on that mission?” Mereoleona asked the squad member.

“Well, true to the rumors, there was a curse mage there,” Arashi responded. “Despite not being the boss, he was pretty tough to beat. The boss was way easier. But I guess one of his curses went unnoticed by myself.”

“I see,” Mereoleona considered her words. “Can you get up?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go. I expect a full report by dinner time.”

Arashi’s eyes widened. 

As they got ready to leave, Owen went up to them, saying, “If or when she gets like this again, don’t hesitate to bring her back, okay?”

“Okay.” “Alright.”

As they said their goodbyes to Owen and walked out of the clinic, Leopold said, “Hey,” his voice was somewhat gentle. “Despite what you might think, I’m glad you’re alright.” To that, she smiled.

When they got back to base, Arashi wrote a full report and began some training before meal time. 

—————

Afterward, Karma found his sister in the garden. She had a light beside her as she sang. Her notebook was open, so that must’ve meant that she drew and wrote things down. Karma approached ever so slowly.

“Wolf-father, where you been? You look so warm, so thin,” she sang. “You’re a tamer, devil’s-maker. Let me see you run, hey-ya hey-ya. Wolf-mother at the door, you don’t smile anymore. You’re a drifter, shapeshifter. Let me hear you sing, hey-ya hey-ya. Wayward winds, a voice that sings of a forgotten land. See it fall, child of war. Oh, lend a mending hand. When I run through the deep dark forest long after it’s begun, where the sun would set, and the trees were dead, and the rivers were none. And I hope for a trace to lead me back home from this place. But there was no sound there was only me and my disgrace.”

He yoinked her notebook from her hands. “Hey!” She protested.

Karma managed to keep it away from her as he inspected some of her work. Her brother saw a drawing of two wolves, a couple dead trees, a dried up river bank, and a child sitting in ruins. The lyrics of the song she just sang were placed in the middle of the page. On the next was a drawing of full trees, as well as a few sentences of chicken scratch in the space in between. It read: “When you’re falling in a forest and there’s nobody around do you ever really crash or even make a sound? When you’re falling in a forest and there’s nobody around, do you ever really crash or even make a sound? Would I ever make a sound? Did I even make a sound? When I crashed onto the ground, did I even make a sound?”

“What is this?” Karma questioned.

“It’s nothing,” she yanked it out of his hands.

“Arashi, are you okay? I just figure that going through what you did, you wouldn’t be alright.”

She considered his question. “I killed our father...”

“What?”

“In the dream, I killed him. Mom cast me out for it too.”

“Arashi-“

Tears streamed down her face. “And I killed Akuma. He turned full beast mode, and me, not knowing that the horned wolf was actually him, stabbed him.” The Crimson Lion sobbed. “So tell me, how am I supposed to feel?”

“Jesus… is that really what you saw?” She nodded. “Shit.” He glanced at the notebook. “And what about those words? Will I even make a sound?” He quoted. “What was that all about?”

“There was... a moment in time where I climbed a tree. All of a sudden, I fell. No one came to help me for at least a couple of hours, I couldn’t exactly move. I’m still foggy over the exact details of the fall. I still think that a branch snapped, but what if I let go?” 

“Then you decide. If it was truly an accident, then yeah you fell. But if you were at a really low point, then… I don’t know. Maybe you did fall?”

“I mean, I guess. I don’t know.”

“Sure you don’t.” That was said under his breath. Knowing what he said, she got up from the bench she currently sat on. Not trusting Karma, she took her notebook with her.

“I’m heading in. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The Royal Knights Selection exam is in two weeks. Instead of shelling on that weird nightmare trip, she wants to be fully prepared for the exam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duuudes, I don't know what I'm going to do with this curse. It might come back though.
> 
> Also, Foreshadowing?
> 
> Also...
> 
> Dear Evan Hansen anyone?


	7. Royal Knights Selection Exam part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand we're back with the anime's plot

By the time the Royal Knights exam came around, Arashi had made it to Intermediate Magic Knight, fourth class. Karma was already ranked Intermediate Magic Knight, fifth class. Before the exam even started, Asta and Yuno were having a lively conversation. Poor Mimosa was so confused. Then, Leopold had to but in and argue with Asta.

“Oh, boy, what a day,” Arashi mumbled. “I’d be surprised if one of them doesn’t break something today.”

“That makes two of us,” Klaus admitted, fixing his glasses slightly.

“By the way, dear brother,” Arashi spoke to Karma. “Did you or did you not try to peak?” She referred to none other than the hot springs trip.

“Please, I didn’t want to be associated with those imbeciles,” Karma replied.

The Akabanes then looked over at where Asta was currently. He, along with the Cherry Berserker and another member of the magic knights were hanging up on their superior, who apparently had changed his hairstyle.

“Oh, the poor bull,” Arashi exhaled. Just for the fun of it, she went up to the group and said, “I actually kind of dig the hairstyle.”

“Well hello there~,” the senior Black Bull member immediately started flirting with her.

“I’m not interested,” she said before moving back to her brother.

“I’m glad you were all able to attend,” Julius projected as he walked up to the balcony. Everyone saluted him. “Without further adieu, I’d like to commence with the royal knights selection test.”

The actual king came out to explain the rules of the test. (It was basically just like capture the flag, but it’s a crystal.) The reasoning behind this selection was much better explained by Wizard King Julius. “When facing the Eye of the Midnight Suns, it is imperative that members of different knight squads are able to cooperate. We feel that a team contest will test your ability to work with others as well as your strategic proficiency. There’s much more to being a royal knight than brute strength.”

“Just what I would have said,” the king stated.

 _“Yeah right,”_ the Akabane siblings thought simultaneously.

“Now then, let us reveal the team roster,” Julius stated.

Before she could even look at the board, everyone’s attention was brought towards the top of the wall of the colosseum. “So sorry I’m late to the party, everybody,” a mysterious person said. He hoped down to the Kong’s balcony and placed an arm around the Wizard Kong’s shoulders. “But the Wizard King is a reasonable guy, so I’m sure that he can forgive a little tardiness, just this once.”

“Who the heck is that?” Asta question.

“Who me? I’m Xerx Lugner. The pleasure’s mine. You see, I met this elderly woman in a sticky situation. Naturally as a magic knight I had to step in and offer my assistance. Cut me some slack.” Somehow, to the Akabanes that sounded like complete crap. He looked really creepy too.

“Oh deer, is that poor woman alright now?”Julius questioned.

“Of course. Fit as a fiddle.”

All of a sudden, King Julius’s right hand man cast a spell at him saying, “Stand aside, you insolent curr.” Xerx back flipped off of the balcony and into the arena.

“That’s not a very nice welcome. What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” Xerx questioned the blue mushroom head.

Marx replied with, “I’d like to ask you the same question, Xerx Lugner.” The Wizard king stopped him from saying whatever he wanted to say next.

Some of the other contestants chastised Xerx for his tardiness and his attitude. Even Asta joined in.

“Settle down folks, there’s no need to worry,” Julius stated. Both his hands were raised up slightly. His palms faced the contestants.

“Oh alright, sounds like you’re pretty fond the old chump aren’t you?” Xerx asked no one in particular. His arms became outstretched. “Sorry. I don’t really see why he’s so great.” There was much hubbub. “You guys might be a bunch of mindless mob, but,” he put on the robe of the Violet Orcas which he previously held in his hand. The Akabanes figure that he probably stole it. “Not me.”

“I’ll tell you one thing, Xerx, you really changed your whole look on that long expedition,” the king laughed. 

“Please don’t laugh, sir,” Marx advised.

The strange man walked up to Asta, saying, “It’s nice to meet you kid, it looks like we’ll be on the same team. Let’s keep things friendly.” He extended a hand for the teen to shake.

“‘Kay,” Asta accepted. He shook his hand. Xerx revealed that what he was really doing was giving him a stink bug. “Ewww, so stinky!”

Arashi pinched the bridge of her nose and stopped paying attention to them. Looking up, she saw that her and her brother were on opposite teams. Arashi was paired with Luck, The Cheery Berserker and Klaus while Karma was teamed up with Leopold and Finral. This’ll be fun.

“Hey, you’re that dragon slayer right?” The Berserker asked excitedly. He had blonde messy hair, which was something that she didn’t expect.

“Yep, That’s me,” Arashi admitted.

“So you’ve seen actual dragons before??” 

“Yeah.”

“So cool! Hey, when this is over, you wanna fight?”

 _“So he’s exactly as they say he is,”_ She thought as she replied, “We’ll see.”

“Now then, I trust that everyone knows who they’re paired with?” Julius questioned. They all got into their groups. “Now that we have our groups, let us advance to the testing grounds. Cob, do the honors.” Cob is the Mage to the Wizard King.

“Of coursity course course,” Cob said. A gate magically appeared. And opened. “Here we go, everybody, step into the portal.” They did. Once they were on the other side, they saw a vast field. Some ruins were scattered about.

“This place is huge!” Asta remarked.

“This vast and baren environment will be your battle stage,” Wizard King Julius stated. “You’ll be able to use all of your magic skills to your heart's content.” At that, both Akabanes grinned widely.

“Yes sir!” Asta was the only one to reply as they all turned to face him.

“That matchups for the initial round have been chosen by lottery and organized in the bracketed chart you see here,” it magically appeared out of thin air with a white backsplash. “Though winning or losing, doesn’t necessarily correlate to who will advance to become a magic knight, your victories will increase your favorability. This is an ideal chance for you all to put your talents on display.

“Now, attacking your opponents _is_ allowed,” Julius went on to say, “and I think this goes without saying but there is to be absolutely no killing. We have mages wielding recovery magic standing by for the injured, so don’t hold anything back.”

“Why the hell are you smiling?” Klaus asked Arashi. 

“Karma and I are going to bring it all on the line, and it’s going to be so fun. Hey,” she got the attention of her other team member. “Let’s do our best, yeah?” 

“Yeah!”

Somehow, some of the Black Bulls had come to watch. With that, the first match had begun. One of the Black Bulls, the small one who always eats, managed to get herself a seat on King Julius’ lap. Arashi had to admit, their interaction was quite cute. Asta, Leopold’s cousin, and that weirdo were up first. Even though one of their squadmates was on the opposing teams, Arashi and Karma were rooting for Asta. It seemed as though they were walking into the trap, but at the last minute, that creepy guy managed to rebound the opposing team’s spells back at them. Asta’s team had won the match.

Up next was Sol, Magna, and Leopolds other cousin up against three other people Arashi hadn’t bothered to know the name of. Although, the Akabane’s agree. Mimosa’s older brother is more than a bit much. “Go Sol!!!” Arashi cheered loudly. The dark skinned woman looked at her and gave her a thumbs up.

Watching Magna fight was interesting to say the least. He used a flaming club to launch balls of fire at his enemies. With that ability, he managed to take down one of his opponents. Meanwhile, Sol summoned a giant stone golem. With both of them, the Vermillion Peacock managed to, in a sense, coach them into making the best of their abilities. In doing so however, they left their crystal wide open. When the last member of the opposing team went for the attack, the Peacock used Cherry Blossom Magic to defend it. He seemed to have created a path to the other team’s crystal which Magna and Sol utilized to destroy it.

Next up was Leopold, Karma, and Finral vs. three other people Arashi had yet to meet. With Finral and Leopold’s combined magic, They were able to take on two of their opponents at once. Yet, that seemed to be a distraction in order for Karma to sneak up on the defender and destroy their crystal. “Weapon magic! Unlimited blade works!” The swords that emerged and launched themselves were more aimed at the crystal than the mage protecting it.

Somehow, the captain of the Azure Deers managed to sneak his way into participating. His team went up in the next round. He was quite fun to watch, with his paint magic. They managed to take care of the other team easily.

Up next, it was finally Arashi’s team’s turn.

“It’s finally our turn!” Luck seemed very enthusiastic. “I can’t wait!”

“Luck Voltia,” the Golden Dawn member of their team scolded. He fixed his glasses. “This is a match that will decide who will be among the Royal Knights. You need to take this more seriously.”

“Says you,” Arashi commented.

“And just what’s that supposed to mean?!” Klaus questioned.

“Let him be all fired up. That way, he’ll have more energy, and therefore, more mana,” the Akabane girl reasoned.

“I see,” The tall man stated. “What about you then?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I may seem calm, but inside, whatever emotions I need to pour into these spells will be right there.”

“Right, well, if you don’t mind, I’ll be the leader.” Luck quieted down to listen now. “Make sure you don’t go running off on your own,” he told the blonde.

“Aww, don’t be so serious,” Luck whined. “Let’s have some fun!”

“Oh, shut up,” Klaus shot at him, making the cheery berserker laugh.

The match commenced. Klaus was on defense while Luck was on offense. Arashi was somewhat of a midfielder. Before the other side’s water mage could even get to Klaus, Arashi stood in his way. He fired a very powerful beam of water at her which she responded with her Storm Dragon’s roar. Sooner or later, their water mage ran out of stamina and couldn’t keep the spell up. Now that she had him where she wanted him, she cast, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz Claws!” He went flying into the air, but he caught himself. Luck took it as his chance to attack the rock mage with a high voltage rapid-fire lightning spell. Yet, that wasn’t enough to defeat him. Both of them fell back. 

Now it was a classic three on three. As Luck rambled on about how cool this was and voicing that he wanted to fight Arashi later, “Alright then,” Akabane stated. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic, Wings of Clouds!” Her wind magic wings propelled her upwards. “Now, Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Wrath of the dragon!” an onslaught of hail, lightning and wind made its way towards the opposite team. “Now, Voltia!” With an almost crazy look in his eyes, Luck created lightning boots and charged right for the Silver Eagle guarding the crystal. His foot kicked the guy in the stomach, sending him backwards and into the crystal, effectively destroying it. Klaus went up to the blonde and hugged him while Arashi showed more restraint. Hearing Leopold, Karma, and some of the others cheer them on, she waved at them.

Lastly was Yuno, Noelle and that Praying Mantis guy verses Solid and two other high profile mages. Their fight was pretty epic, as was expected. Giant monsters were created from most everyone. Yuno even cast a spell inside the sand mage’s monster! How cool is that? The other thing that really jumped out at Arashi was that Noelle was able to come up with a larger and more powerful spell than Solid. Even greater, she hit her target. Even greater? The spell was called Sea Dragon’s Roar.

 _“Man, Easifa would’ve liked to see that,”_ Akabane thought. 


	8. Royal Knights Selection Exam part 2

After a period of rest, the next match began with Asta’s group and Sol’s group fighting. The cherry blossom dude covered the entire field with flower petals. Then, all of a sudden, a strange presence was felt. A dark line made its way through the thick layer of petals. The members of the Black Bulls recognized it as Asta.

“How is he doing that?” Karma questioned out loud.

“It might be old and dusty, but his grimoire actually has a five leafed clover,” Arashi informed him. “One leaf for love, one for faith, and one for hope,” she recalled. “The fourth is attributed to luck, while in the fifth, the devil resides…” the others gave her a strange look. “Asta… So this is the full extent of your anti-magic power.”

Sooner or later, all the petals had dissipated. Both teams took a moment to strategize. In an instant, the Peacock Vermillion just went ahead by himself. And just as Arashi thought, he was brought down by Asta and that creep after having cornered the Black Bull. They seemed to have lured him into a trap and knocked him out there.

Next on the attack was Sol, going after Mimosa. The Vermillion girl cast a plant spell that blew off the arm of Sol’s golem. In response, the Blue Rose Knight trapped her in mud.

Manga had made his way right to the crystal where Asta and Xerx set up that trap. He stopped before it though and swung a fireball. Asta took his sword to swing at it, but the ball disappeared and Asta’s sword ended up hitting his own crystal, but it didn’t shatter. Magma took two more shots. One of them hit the crystal and broke a small piece off, while the other ball was hit by Asta’s sword. 

Shot after shot. Some made it to the crystal, and some didn’t. Pretty soon, they began to move faster. That is, until the blossom petal mage came at them. Asta switched targets while the creep put a magic circle on their crystal. Magna’s fireball came back at him twice as strong. The fire mage tried to hit it, but failed and fell.

Just as the flower guy was about to attack, a magic circle appeared on his hand, locking his hand in place. Then, Asta knocked him out for the second time.

All of a sudden, Sol seemingly came out of nowhere with her golem. The giant rock monster went right for the crystal, yet suddenly, it stopped. Vines started growing all over it. Mimosa was still in the game. With the vines, she managed to pull back the rock to expose the crystal. Asta destroyed it with one slice.

Next up was Langris’ team against Finral’s team. Before they even went to the battlefield, Arashi, Karma, and Leopold stood watching the Black Bulls. Luck and Magna were about to throw magic at each other when Asta got in the middle of them. He ended up receiving both spells.

“In spite of his rough looks, that guy seems like he knows his way around flame magic,” Leopold noted. “The lightning mage is skilled as well.”

“Yes well, if it weren’t for Luck’s, the lightning mage’s personality, or rather, his home life while growing up, then he probably would have made it into higher ranking squads,” Arashi told him.

Now it was time for them to fight. “Alright you two. I wish you both the best of luck,” Arashi told them, giving them a thumbs up as they headed to the battlefield.  _ “If you win, big brother, and I win, we could duke it out like old times,”  _ she thought, but then thought it over more. “ _ Or maybe we should save that for later since that doesn’t involve magic whatsoever.” _

For now, it seemed like their strategy was to wait around. Or at least, that’s what it looked like at first glance and to other people. Arashi knows that her brother was searching through the void for mana and Qi. Meanwhile, Langris and Sekke went towards their crystal. Their third member stayed back. They soon found the opposing trio.

Langris tried to use spatial magic to get rid of the crystal while Finral used spatial magic to counter it. Karma’s head went back up. He’s found the other’s crystal. Finral sent him and Leopold on their way. While the two spatial mages dukes it out, Arashi could hear King Julius geek out about it. The Black Bull cast a spell that followed the target. He managed to get Sekke off his ride and somewhere into the void.

“Wait a minute, that was defensive,” Arashi noticed. “He just transported Sekke to another location without harming him. But where did Ha-ha! Go?”

“Man, who knows,” said Magna. “For all we know he could be in Captain Yami’s bathroom.”

“Somehow I don’t think that’ll end well for him.”

“Oh, no it definitely won’t.”

All of a sudden, the skies darkened. Langris was giving off a strange dark aura. Then, lots of small dark spatial spells appeared. “Something’s very wrong here,” she said out loud.

Something inside Finral awakened. Tons of light green spatial spells appeared. “Please Langris! Stop this! Right now! Or I don’t know how much longer you’ll stay you!” He was practically screeching.

“What could you possibly understand?! Your a mage who can’t even attack someone in battle!!” Langris countered. “You’re nothing!!!” Their spells launched at each other. 

A bright light with dark patches erupted, giving off a strange tint to the scenery. The sound of a crystal shattering hit their ears. Finral dropped. Arashi heard Asta’s pained scream. As the referee announced the winner, she too felt saddened. She wanted Finral’s team to pass so that she could face off against her brother.

Arashi reaches out into the void, searching for Karma’s and Leopold’s mana. She could tell that they were using mana skin. All of a sudden, a giant rush of mana pulsed. They must have destroyed the other team’s crystal, but they were too late.

“Team G wins the match!” The referee projected. “While both crystals in the field were destroyed, team E’s was destroyed seconds before team G’s.”

The fight was over, yet still, Langris raised his hand as if to obliterate his older brother. Not a half-second later, Asta, Magna, and Luck all aimed their weapons/magic at the younger member of the house of Vaud. Actually, the entire Black Bulls squad had come to defend Finral.

Arashi’s fists clenched as she flew over there. “Storm Recovery Magic, Lazarus mist.” With that cast, she healed the older sibling.

She could tell that Magna and Luck were threatening the spatial mage, but she couldn’t quite catch what they were saying.“There’s something wrong with you,” Asta said to Langris with gritted teeth. “The match was already over!”

“The Black Bulls May be doing better than expected,” Langris admitted. “But you’re still worthless underlings. You think you can take on the vice captain of the Golden Dawn?”

“You’re rank has nothing to do with this,” Asta told him.

“That’s quite enough,” Julius stated, alerting everyone to his presence. Everyone’s guard was lowered. “I appreciate the fact that you didn’t hold back against your brother, but trying to kill a fellow magic knight is something else all together, and it has no place in this tournament.”

The head healing mage walked up to Arashi. “Thank you for stepping,” he said. “These are Grace injuries and you’ve healed them well, but we can take it from here.” Arashi hesitated before nodding and getting up.

“Thank you, Doctor Owen,” Arashi bowed. “I trust that your healing abilities will do far greater than mine.”

“Water recovery magic, koala operation.”

“See your friend?” Langris began to taunt. “He’s a disgrace to the magic knights.” Arashi’s had enough of him. Before he could get another word in, she slapped him hard on the face, shocking most everyone there.

“He might be less adept than you at magic,” Arashi defended the Bull. “But he will always be the better person, and that counts for more than I think you could ever comprehend.” Her words became enunciated and filled with venom.

“Why you!” The spatial mage was about to cast a spell, but Arashi blocked certain key mana points along his body and took him down without using a drop of magic. She moved so fast that she didn’t even think he knew what was happening until he tried to use magic. “What did you do?!?!”

“Something that you never could,” she answered him in a calm voice. “Something that only a commoner like me with a drunk and abusive father could even hope to achieve learning.” She never thought she would be able to say that to people who don’t know her. Especially someone like Langris.

“You will pay for this!” He told her.

“Oh, I bet. I also think that I’d be able to take you and your lakey’s down.”

“His pulse is weakening,” Doctor Owen stated. The members of the Black Bulls tried to rally Finral to get him better. Saying things like, “You better not die or I’ll kill you.”

“God damnit,” Arashi swore as she made her way towards Leopold and Karma, who had just arrived. Klaus filled them in.. She heard the King tell his spatial mage to gather the missing squadmates of Asta’s team and Langris’s team.

“I can’t believe this is what it’s come to,” Leopold stated.

“Agreed,” said Karma. Noticing that his sister was walking towards them, he said, “That was a nice takedown, Arashi. Karasuma couldn’t have done it better.” 

“Yeah, well, our uncle couldn’t hold a candle to use magic-wise, so...” she trailed off. While the man visited, he made sure to reach his niece and be few how to counter magic with hitting certain points in the body, as well as basic fighting moves that don’t involve magic. He did that so they wouldn’t have to live in fear of their father.

A bright light intruded it’s way onto the scene. “Everybody step out of the portal.” That was the Kong’s spatial mage. He’s returned with whom Julius requested.

“There’s a crystal at the starting point position of the final match between team B and team G,” the Wizard King explained. “It bears repeating that this is simply a tournament match. Not an actual fight. You’re goal is to smash the other teams crystal, not to injure mame or kill anyone on the battlefield.” He was about to send them out when he remembered what Arashi had done. “Arashi, if you please.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “If you insist.” The mage hit the exact spots she previously hit. That reversed the effect of the first blows. With that down, both teams were teleported towards the crystals. It seems that Asta and Langris will be settling their dispute on the battlefield. Everyone else cleared out.  _ It seems as though the next few battles may have been canceled for this one match. But why though?” _ The dragon slayer muttered.

Asta’s team’s strategy was to take their crystal with them as they went to attack theirs. Langris attacked as Asta deflected, and Mimosa healed the commoner’s wounds. Somehow, he let three slip by. They hit Asta’s crystal, but didn’t break it.

Everyone was rooting for Asta to beat Langris. Arashi would cheer if she wasn’t too busy trying to think of why the Wizard King would want to do this.  _ “Could it be? No, that seems too outlandish, and yet, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Could Langris be the mole in the Magic Knights for the Eye of the Midnight Suns?” _

Xerx stepped in to protect Asta with a magic circle. Somehow, the magic circle broke. Or perhaps not, as there were magic seals plastered all over his body. The hits didn’t exactly land. In fact, they were observed and then shot back at Langris.

A bright light made its way to the battlefield for a fourth time. The attack disappeared. Langris looked like darkness had surrounded his entire being.

“The vice-captain is strong, but this is something else entirely,” Klaus stated.

_ “So, he isn’t himself?”  _ Arashi thought.  _ “All the more reason to think that he’s in league with the Eye of the Midnight Suns.” _

Xerx looked defeated. Langris’s spatial magic grew. In Asta’s demon form, the boy emerged from behind Xerx. He canceled out each of the spatial mage’s spells. Meanwhile, Mimosa healed Xerx. 

“You don’t stand a chance against my supreme greatness!!” Langris screamed.

“Yeah, right, you are something else,” Asta told him. Luckily they were near the structure in which everyone was watching. They could all hear his words. “Even as nobles go, your powers are creepy intense, your spatial magic is off the charts. You were born incredible. That was what I always wanted. To be someone special. Your power may be awesome, but you know what really sets us apart? I don’t  _ care _ whether you’re impressed with me or not. I mean, I can’t stand you. Just don’t take him from us for nothing. Unlike you, we don’t want to become powerful just to get our way. We use magic to protect each other. We compete so we could all get better! We fight as a team. That’s the only reason we’ve made it this far!”

“I'VE HEARD ENOUGH!!! If you want to live, you should get out of my way, you FILTHY COMMONER!!!” He unleashed very powerful spatial spells.

“Call me names all day long, but you won’t be laughing when you see my power!!” Asta moves to disperse the attacks. “I’ll burn it into you!!” The Black Bull hit the vice-captain of the Golden Dawn and sent him flying. Neither one eases up. Asta pushed him through the air and straight into his crystal, destroying it instantly. Both crystals broke at the same time. The match ended in a draw.

Sunlight peeked through the clouds. Asta looked like he was about to fall. Magna caught him, surrounded by virtually everyone else.


	9. Royal Knights Selection Exam part 3

The recovery mages decided it was best for Finral to get to the infirmary. Arashi’s team was fighting next. They were facing off against Rill and his team. Luck found it exciting while Klaus secretly found it to be daunting. Arashi was somewhere in between.

“Okay guys, let’s do our best!” Arashi cheered.

“”We’re fighting against the Azure Deer Captain. Oh what to do,” Klaus stated.

“I think I might have a good strategy,” Luck said to them. His hand was slightly raised. “Wanna hear it?” The other two nodded. “There’s no point in countering an ultra-fast attack spell. One strike and he’s toast.”

The Cheery Berserker created a giant lightning arrow. “Here, let me help,” Arashi suggested. She conjured up a medium sized storm and added lightning, hail and wind to make the arrow more powerful.

“I guess we’re kind of copying the combined spells those other guys used in the first round,” Luck elaborated. “But this technique is gonna have a lot more to it. Don’t bother moving out of the way,” he said to the opposite team. “On a battlefield like this I’ll know exactly where you’re hiding. Not to mention Arashi’s keen ability in sensing mana and Qi.” Klaus added some of his metal magic. “Whatever your next move is, it won’t help you at all.”

“Combined Magic!” The three of them called out. “Lightning arrow!” The spell blast right through the rock. And out to the other side. 

A few seconds later, their own spell was hurled back at them. Quickly, Arashi conjured up a giant storm dragon with creation magic. She rode it and guided it. The dragon swallowed up the arrow before releasing an almost deafening roar. She didn’t have to look around or feign her ears to know that people gasped. Falconswift, she and her dragon made their way to behind the other team’s crystal to attack it. “Now, Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Giant Dragon’s Roar!!” An even stronger attack was launched by her at the other team. Now with a higher vantage point, she was able to see that the captain of Azure Deer has conjured up an enormous painting that depicted a god-like person. It absorbed and dispersed her attack.

Her eyes widened. It seemed he had her right where he wanted her, because in the next instant, the painting hurled a huge amazing of magic at the team’s crystal. It moved so fast. Arashi could tell that Klaus was about to cast a defensive spell.

The attack destroyed their crystal.

“Damn,” Arashi stated, getting down from the air, still keeping her dragon intact. “He’s not a captain for nothing. Oh well. Time to go join my squad mates in the loser club. Care to join?” She offered them her hand as she stood on the dragon’s wing. 

“Whoa that’s so cool!!” Both Rill and Luck said at the same time.

“Hey, Arashi, I know I already asked you this before, but can we spar later?” Luck asked, way too excited.

“Maybe later,” Arashi told him. He took that as a yes and climbed aboard. “What about you, Klaus?”

“I suppose a ride to the viewing area wouldn’t be a bad idea,” the light bluenette stated as he too climbed on. The dragon disappeared when they were close enough to step off of it.

Up next was Noelle and Yuno’s team Vs. a team filled with guys Arashi doesn’t know. Yuno went up into the air immediately. When the opposing team attacked him, he released his signature spell. The Towering Tornado. With that spell, he dispersed the other’s magic and the crystal. Yuno’s team won.

Just from that fight, she could tell that he was slightly pissed and determined to get this over with so that he could reach the top.

“Next up: a match two of the semifinals,” King Julius announced. “But it will be much more than that. Since the first match of this round resulted in a draw, this face-off between team I and team P is going to be the last bout of our great tournament.”

Yuno told Steph to go full power for this match. _“Of course he didn’t go full power on that last match,”_ Arashi thought.

Rull’s butler made the Captain some tea which he drank. The older man then proceeded to get into an argument with the wind spirit over who would win before the match started.

Again Yuno flew off, heading right towards his target, the captain. For some odd goddamn reason, he notified Yuno to his location. The other members of Rill’s team went after the other team.

The wind mage sent a spell at the captain who used the spell he did for Arashi’s team and sent his own attack back at him. Yuno dispersed the attack with a tornado.

“Ah, so they just greeted each other with their magic,” Leopold remarked. He stood right next to Klaus and Arashi.

“By the looks of it, neither of them are even trying yet,” Klaus noted, fixing his glasses.

The mages of Rull’s team made their way to Noelle and the crystal. Even though one used sandstone magic while the other used ice magic, they moved as one unit.

The Green Mantis guy created a giant mushroom, but the mushroom’s eyes were poked at by ice. What seemed like growing ice and sandstone made its way to Noelle. She cast Sea Dragon’s Lair, protecting herself and the crystal. 

Back over with Yuno and Rill, they were having an intense battle. It seemed like they were evenly matched. All of a sudden, Rill cut a rock onto cubes and launched them at the wind mage. He dodged with ease, flying into the air. With the help of Sylph, Yuno unleashed very powerful magic arrows. Rill dodged, taking the crystal with him. He seemed to be skating on ice. The captain then moved a block of ice higher into the air. Yuno scales it. But once he reached the top, he set off a trap of fire. With his paint magic, Rill managed to encase him with a swirl of ice and lava. The two elements swirled upwards and formed two hands clamping down. 

Yuno was trapped. But not for long. The ice and fire was blown away with another one of Yuno’s tornadoes. He sent a tornado at the captain who skated on paint magic, but it was blocked. Next, he tried a wind bird. It was blocked by rocks.

Next, the commoner floated down to the captain’s level and released a massive amount of mana. Just like he did at the festival. 

People around the Akabanes gasped. “So I see he’s able to fully control the mana within him,” Karma noticed.

“Indeed,” Arashi seconded.

“How are you both so calm about this? This is huge!” Sekke stated.

“Well, given the fact that we’re both uniquely adept at sensing mana, it isn’t all that strange to us,” Arashi commented.

Suddenly, the Captain of the Azure Deer used his pain magic to make a lean figure with wings. Their spells flew towards each other and collided, creating a big explosion. A beautiful and destructive dance of magic and power exchanged between them. 

All of a sudden, the rock face they were dueling on broke off into millions of small cubes. The captain aimed them at Yuno, who stopped them with wind. With a final yell, the wind mage pushed the rocks past Rill’s crystal. It seemed that no one else had noticed. Good thing about Arashi’s eyes. They can adjust to the darkness, and the light. When the smoke and mana cleared, it was revealed to everyone that Rill’s crystal had broken.

“But… how?!” A member of the crowd wondered out loud.

“With the amount of mana Rill was emitting,” Arashi explained. “The crystal just couldn’t take the pressure.”

“Aw, what?!?” “Seriously?!?” Other members of the crowd responded.

“His own magic power made him self destruct?” Another contestant questioned out loud.

The referee called out, “Captain Rill has destroyed his own team’s crystal. Therefore, team P—Yuno, Noelle, and En—wins!”

Klaus seemed so excited, “Th-that battle was unbelievable. That final push of their magical powers gave me goosebumps. Yes!” He then collected himself. “Ahem… Well, he won, but only because his opponent self destructed, we can’t have him getting a big head because of that.”

“I’m not about to lose!” Leopold stated. “I’m going back and training even harder!”

The two Akabane siblings looked at each other and nodded. They were going to train too, but not in the way everyone else was. The two of them have decided it was time to brush up on old fighting skills.

The Kings gathered everyone and stood in front of them. “This concludes the Selection Exam,” Julius stated. “First of all, let me congratulate you on your victory,” he gestured to Yuno’s team, then to Rill’s group. “You May have lost by a hair, but you also did amazingly well.” Now, he addressed the others. “Also, though the other teams have been defeated, it doesn’t mean you are out of the race. I’m going to go over all of your battles today, and will probably select and announce about 10 to 20 Royal Knights at a later date.”

“That means we still have a chance,” Leopold was pumped now. 

“Finally, his magesty has something to say,” Julius said to them. The people stiffened.

“Excellent work today,” the actual king stated. “You displayed high levels of magical power and versatility in dealing with various obstacles, not to mention the use of careful planning and combination attacks, and any one of your teams could have easily been the winner.” People from the crowd commented on how it was actually a decent speech for once. Arashi chose to tune out what the rest of the king’s words were, but it was something along the lines of, “Praise me Damn it!”

Wizard King Julius interjected, “Your Majesty, please, calm yourself. They all gathered here because they all supported the idea of the Royal Knights from the bottom of their hearts. They gathered here, determined to protect this kingdom from the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Don’t you think their thoughts and actions show that they are ready for anything?”

People murmured about how they wanted to make Julius the actual king. 

“Now then,” Julius continued on, saluting. “I’ll be counting on you if you’re chosen to become a Royal Knight.”

The contestants all saluted. 

“We will now bring the Royal Knights Selection Exam to a close!” The referee said as the Mage to the King opened up a portal. The people all went through and went their separate ways.


	10. Royal Knights Reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Assassination classroom time!

It’s been weeks since the Royal Knights exam. King Julius has yet to announce who will be moving on to becoming Royal Knights. While some of them took the time to rest, others took the time to train. Leopold would almost regularly climb the hot springs training camp. Meanwhile, for Karma and Arashi, they were doing a whole different type of training. Leo would sometimes see them near the gardens sparing without any magic. As to why they did this, he had no idea. And yet, he found himself watching them spar in what he can only describe as hand to hand, or sometimes, weapon combat. Sometimes, they wouldn’t be sparing, just practicing moves. Both of them would count as they made slashes through the air with their knives. The moves that seemed to go along with the numbers would always stay constant while the order of the numbers changed.

Leopold had just gotten back from scaling the volcano when he saw that the two of them had just started to spar. They circled each other. A knife in their hands. Mereoleona came up to him.

“What are they doing?” she asked.

“Fighting without using any magic,” he answered. “It’s quite interesting to watch. You should have seen Arashi take down Langris by just attacking certain points in his body. Afterwhich, he couldn’t use his magic. It was as if she had blocked his mana.”

_ “That’s probably half the reason why she was able to make it,” _ Mereoleona thought.

Suddenly, they sprinted at each other. Both siblings went for the same move. Their right arms held the knife as they went in for the attack. The limbs seemed to overlay. They locked. Karma kept trying to trip her by swiping her feet. She always evaded him. Suddenly, he grabbed hold of her and flipped her, trying to bring her down onto the ground. Arashi broke free and landed on her feet. Falconswift, Arashi tackled him. After sliding for a little bit, they locked in place, both sides pushing the other, neither one getting any leeway. All of a sudden, Karma kicked her back. She rolled back onto her feet.

Now, they each took a different stance. “Interesting,” Mereoleona stated. Neither combatant noticed the lions’ eyes on them.

“If one knife taps you, it’s your opponent’s win,” Leopold explained to her. “Karma usually wins through technique, while Arashi waits for the perfect time to strike. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that Arashi has a second blade sheathed.”

“You’re right,” his older sister told him. “This is getting more and more intriguing.”

Karma rushed at her and began slashing. She dodged him every time. Arashi went for the same attack, he dodged. When Karma attempted to attack, Arashi’s arm went under his. Her knife was now inches above his shoulder. Karma pushed her arm up to get his knife hand free. However, he then moved to twist her arm back and took her down. She kicked him off of her. Both of them got to their feet. 

Arashi wasted no time in launching herself at him. Her knife held by both of her hands. He tried to hold her off. Eventually, he succeeded and flipped. Both of them got to their feet. She went in to attack him again, but he threw leaves in her face before kicking her in the head. While she was down, Karma leaped at her. Arashi got out of the way and kicked his knife out of his hands.

“Nice,” Leo commented. “She got his knife away.”

Just as She was about to attack him, their heads collided intentionally on Karma’s part. Arashi jumped back, accidentally dropping her knife. 

“It seems he did too,” Mereoleona noticed.

Now with both of their knives gone, and Arashi’s second still sheathed, Karma went to punch her, but she stepped to her right to avoid the punch, even pushing it with her right hand to move it. Next with her left hand, she held that arm in place before moving to punch him just below his ear with her right. He went down, but he managed to sweep her legs. Luckily, she caught herself and backspringed onto her feet.

This time she went in for the punch in the face. With his left hand, Karma pushed the arm away and locked it in place with his right. Then he swung both hands at her neck. She stepped backward. Not even a second later, his foot was on her knee, slowly pushing it in as if wanting to break it. She grabbed a hold of his foot and flipped him. The older sibling rolled onto his feet.

She went to attack Karma again, but he spun to the side. She went low before giving him a backhanded punch by his ear. Arashi then tried to punch him again, but he grabbed hold of her wrist and her head and pushed her down. She flipped back onto her feet.

Next, he went to kick her in the side. It was blocked. She tried to punch him, but he dodged and gave her an uppercut. He then kicked her with his heel. She seemed to be down for the count.

“Should we do something?” Mereoleona questioned.

“Just watch,” Leopold told her.

Noticing that his knife was close to them, he got up and grabbed it. Just as he was about to touch the tip of his blade to her back, she got up and clapped once. Stunned, he leaned back but bit his tongue to keep from dropping. 

“Whoa,” both Vermillions said simultaneously.

With Arashi’s second knife now unsheathed, she went in, seemingly for the kill. Just as she aimed it towards his face, and he was about to block it, she let go of the weapon and tackled him to the ground with a yell and a triangle choke. Kamra struggled to break free. This went on for almost a full minute. He reached out, hoping to find a weapon. Once he did, he didn’t hesitate to tap her on the back with it. Arashi let go and got off of him instantly.

“Ughhh, you killed me,” she got off of him and plopped to the ground.

“Yep, I sure did,” he said before shifting. He looked at her and stated, “Quite starting at me like that, you look like mousetrap cheese. I’ve seen fewer bruises on a week old peach.”

“Wow,” she got up. “Even in defeat, you can’t bear to waste a single insult. Good old Karma.”

“Good job,” she said to him with a smile, helping her older brother up. “You actually got me. Unlike yesterday, and the day before that.”

“Yeah yeah,” he said as he got up. Immediately, he noticed the lions watching them.

Noticing how stiff he went, Arashi asked, “What is it?” The girl opted to turn around and saw both Leopold and Mereoleona standing there. “Uh, hi,” she greeted with a wave.

“Those were some crazy moves,” their captain spoke. Her arms were crossed. “I have to admit, it’s strange watching people fight without using magic. Tell me, why even do it in the first place?”

“Our uncle taught it to us as a way to fight back against-” Arashi stopped herself.

“Against our dad,” Karma finished. “We knew that at that point in our lives, we couldn’t hold a candle to him in magical power, so we fought him another way.”

“And then we also thought it would be a skill to keep around if we ever lose or are unable to use our magical abilities,” Arashi added.

“I see,” The redhead woman stated. She appeared to be thinking.

“That was so cool,” Leo told them. “Can you teach it to me one day?” 

The siblings looked at each other. Nodding, Karma handed Arashi the knife. She rushed at him. Before he could even cast anything, her legs were around his neck, bringing him to the ground. She held his head and placed a knife at his throat. “What about now?” she asked him.

“Definitely,” he answered her. She let go and helped him up.

“Captain, is there something you wanted to talk to us about?” Arashi questioned, letting her younger brother go.

“Well, you did pass the Selection Exam Arashi, but I suppose that’s none of my business,” she told them, sarcastically. “Oh wait, I’ll be your captain there too.”

“Wait, seriously?!” Leopold and Arashi questioned.

“Yep.”

“Yes!” The dragon slayer’s fist went up in the air.

“Karma I did it!” She said excitedly.

“Yeah, I know, I was standing right here too,” he responded.

Then it came to her. “But wait, so I’m guessing that neither of them made it?” She meant Leo and Karma.

“No, unfortunately, they did not.”

“Oh.”

“Hey, it’s alright, I wasn’t expecting to get in, anyway,” Karma said to her. “You just keep in wowing everyone with the natural talent I never had.” Arashi gave a small smile to her brother before turning to Leopold.

“Are you okay?” Arashi questioned the lion prince.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine,” he said in an almost downbeat tone.

“Now,” their captain said. “Do you want to visit the Black Bulls headquarters with me?”

“Sure?” Arashi agreed.

“Good, because I was going to force you anyway. We can use that giant storm dragon of yours.” Arashi conjured the dragon and the two of them rode away.

When they landed, Mereoleona wasted no time and knocked down their door. By the time Arashi got inside, her captain was dragging away Asta, Noelle, and Luck by their heads with her fire paws.

“What the hell?” Arashi questioned softly. She then noticed Yami and bowed.  **“Good morning, Captain Yami.”** She then went after her captain. He looked and nodded at her.

Mereoleona looked back at the other bulls and said simply, “They all passed the Royal Knights Selection Exam.” Everyone but Yami and Mereoleona started freaking out. Those three had made it, but Magna and Finral did not.

With the three of them in hand, Arashi called her dragon and the five of them headed to the capital. There, she knighted sixteen people. Arashi, Leopold, Karma, Luck, Noelle, Asta, Yuno, Mimosa, Klaus, Rill, and a few others have all been knighted by the captain of the Crimson Lions.

“If any of you have any objections, don’t hold back! State them now!” Leona told them. “I also won’t hold back on crushing you!” The woman released a massive amount of flames. “Listen up,” she said as the flames died down. “You sixteen survived the brutal Selection Exam and were chosen to become Royal Knights. If there are no objections, from this day until we annihilate the Eye of the Midnight Sun, your lives will be in my hands!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” They all saluted. 

She did a headcount and concluded that one of them was missing. She wondered if he was being late out of disrespect. He appeared above them. It was Xerx, or rather, the man pretending to be Xerx. This time, he had on a Black Bulls robe. “My bad, I guess I’m late,” he said. Mereoleona aimed a fireball at him. He responded by sending it back to her via magic circles. She dispersed the flames.

“So you are disrespecting me,” she concluded.

He chuckled. “I wanted to see how strong you were since my life’s going to be in your hands. A pleasure to work with you.”

“Hey, you’re-“ Asta said before noticing the robe. “Huh?! Why are you wearing a Black Bulls robe?”

“You dumbass. It’s because I’m a member of the Black Bulls, obviously.” Arashi chuckled.

“What?!” Asta and Noelle simultaneously questioned.

“You’re one of the Black Bulls?!” “Hey! Explain yourself!”

Not-Xerx laughed. “It’s a bittersweet memory from years ago. I was kicking the asses of some Magic Knights due to reasons.”

Asta went up to him. “Magic Knights?! You can’t do that!”

The redhead flicked the boys on the head and said, “Shut up. I said I had a reason, you little shit. Anyway, while I was doing that, I ran into this terrible monster and he ended up kicking my ass instead. So yeah, that’s what happened. Yami scouted me, and I got into the Magic Knights through the back door.”

“What the heck Xerx!! That’s not fair!” Asta yelled at him. “Do you have any idea what I went through to get in?!?!”

“Asta,” Arashi stated, getting his attention. “You do realize that Yami does that all the time right?”

“How would you know?! You aren’t even in the Black Bulls.”

“Hey, I’m just an observer.”

“Also, I should probably tell you guys that I’m not Xerx,” not-Xerx said to them. “My name’s Zora Ideale, you shitty little junior shrimp.” Arashi watched as a few of the others slipped out of the room.

“Huh?! What the heck is a Zora? Is that your real name?!”

Zora chuckled and went down to his level. “I just told you it was, you stupid shrimp.” It was at this point that Arashi left too. She went to get on her new Royal Knights robe.

The robe was white and red. They had an outfit underneath them too. It was black with a green pattern.

When she came back, the others started to file in too. “All right, it looks like you’re all finished changing.”

“This is so exciting,” said Klaus.

“Says the man unenthusiastically,” Arashi narrated. He glared at her.

Some of them were commenting on how cool the robes were. “I guess it’s not bad,” Noelle stated with a flip of her hair. 

Both Noelle and Arashi noticed Asta’s robe was tiny. “What the heck is that robe?!” “What’s with that robe?!” They questioned.

“Asta, why the heck are you joking around?” Yuno questioned.

“I’m not! This is how it looked when I put it on!” Asta replied.

Zora chuckled. “Guess the half-baked twit gets just half a robe.”

“We ran out of fabric because we got a few additional members,” Mereoleona explained.

“Extra members?” Arashi questioned.

“They didn’t take the exam, but they are essential to making this plan work.” Two new members walked up to her. Captain Mereoleona introduced them as Shiren Tiun (1st class intermediate magic knight) and Cob Portaport (the mage to the Wizard King). “Shiren’s sandstone creation magic can create models of the enemy’s base,” Captain Mereoleona explained. “As well as measure the magic levels of the mages there. Cob has very convenient spatial magic. He has been added because Finral Roulacase is still recovering from his injuries.”

_ “So he would have made it,”  _ Arashi thought.

“And one more.” Nozel Silva arrived. “Nozel Silva, Captain of the Silver Eagles will be joining us as well.”

As some of the actual Silver Eagles squad members murmured, Mereoleona questioned him. “I figured you’d decline. What brought this on?”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you,” he told her. “I’m only here because the king ordered it.”

“You lot!” Mereoleona announced. “Along with these three, are Royal Knights!”

Rill, as if he’s been out of it this entire time gasps. “Huh?! Hey, Nozel! Why did you just show up like it’s no big deal?! You didn’t even take the exam! It’s not fair!”

Arashi just sighed.

“What  _ I  _ want to know is, why did you bother to take the exam when you’re a captain?” Nozel asked.

“What?! I could’ve joined without taking the exam?!” Rill freaked. Arashi found it hard not to giggle.

The actual king came into the room. Arashi stopped paying attention instantly. Well, until her captain addressed him by his full name and title.

“Listen well men,” the king stated. “Don’t do anything you bring shame upon-“

He was interrupted by Mereoleona. “I think you all know this, but we have no use for anything other than victory! The Eye of the Midnight Sun is a terrorist organization that threatens the Clover Kingdom! If we don’t take care of them ourselves, there will never be peace in our land! You all worked together when they attacked the royal capital and were successful in eliminating them, but there were still several consequences. My foolish younger brother Fuegoleon fell at the enemy’s hands, and he has still not awakened. 

What we learned from the agents we captured is that their leader is a mage with a four-leafed clover grimoire, Licht. We learned that they have an upper echelon called the Third Eye, and that, for reasons unknown, they are collecting magic stones in order to be reborn in their true forms and obtain great power. There are only three magic stones left. We were able to obtain two of them before they got to them. We were able to defeat Vetto, the Third Eye’s user of beast magic, as well as Fana, who commanded Salamanders. The remaining member of the Third Eye is a user of copy magic, Raia. There’s no doubt that Raia and Licht will be our strongest opponents in this battle! We are going to be attacking their stronghold, so our enemy will do everything they can to stop us. Some of us may fall, but we will be victorious! We are going to give it our all in this battle! Any fools who fail to do so will be taken out by me before even get to the enemy’s stronghold! Are you ready?!”

“Yes!” Everyone saluted.

Arashi’s Captain then addresses the king by his full name before saying, “Please continue what you were saying earlier.” Akabane didn’t even bother listening.

Next, Asta asked them where the stronghold was. The king was about to answer when

Mereoleona called out, “The Eye of the Midnight Sun’s hideout is a floating dungeon located in the Strong Magic Region known as Gravito Stones!”

“Cool,” Arashi muttered. She soon realized that she was the only one who responded.

—————

The next day, Arashi thought it would be nice to visit Fuegoleon. Everyone’s grateful to her that she was able to save his arm. Some, however, hold it above her that she wasn’t able to save his hand. She mostly just tunes that kind of stuff out.

Seeing that Leopold was already there, she said, “Hey Leopold.”

“Hey,” he said. He then looked at her. “Nice robes.”

“Thanks. Everyone has to wear it. It’s weird. There are a sort of big amount of Golden Dawn and Black Bulls. Even though we’re all on the same side, I still feel on the outs.”

“Well, what can you do? Right? I mean, you essentially have been facing adversity since you got here, and Mereoleona will have your back, I’m sure of it.”

Arashi smiled. “Thank you.” She then turned to Fuegoleon. “It’s good to see that you aren’t doing any worse, Captain. I again apologize for not doing better in healing you. I swear the Royal Knights and I will take down The Eye of the Midnight Sun. I do hope you wake up soon, we all do.” She bowed and turned to leave.

On her way back to her room, she spotted Noelle and Asta. Not feeling up for talking to them, she sped up her pace. All of the members of her team will be coming over here for a gathering. Wanting to just water the flowers, she sings a sad song that her mom used to sing. Soon enough, her emotions make it rain in the little patch of land.

She’s only interrupted by Yuno. As soon as she noticed his mana near her, she stopped. Without even looking at him, she said, “Hello Yuno.”

“I thought I would find you out here,” the tall teen stated.

She turned to him. “Mereoleona might get mad or annoyed with me for not joining in the festivities, but I don’t know, I just can’t.”

With a knowing look, his expression saddened a little. “It’s that day, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” She glanced away. “It is.” The day her uncle died protecting her and her siblings from their father’s rampage.

“I suppose I should-“

“You can stay, but only if you want to, of course.”

Yuno looked up at the sky. “It’s a pretty day out.”

“Yeah, yeah it is.”

“Oh there you are Yuno, and Arashi,” Klaus went up to them. “I just thought I’d let you know that Mereoleona caught a Spy from the Eye of the Midnight Sun.”

Yuno glanced at her as if asking her permission to go. “Go,” she told him. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“But Arashi-“ Klaus tried to persuade her otherwise.

“Drop it, Klaus,” Yuno told him quite harshly.

“I am your superior!” The light blue-haired male yelled at him. Akabane saw them walk back inside. 

—————

Arashi finally joined them. The members all stood in a line facing Captain Mereoleona as she held the spy by his hair. “I questioned him without killing him,” this brought a tiny smile to Arashi’s face. “But apparently, our enemy hasn’t noticed any of our movements. Therefore, we will be moving up our operation’s time table. We will strike the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s hideout tomorrow morning.”

Everyone went through different stages of shock.  _ “Well, it seems like I came in at just the right time.” _

“Make sure you all get plenty of rest tonight,” the captain advised. “That is all.” With that, she turned to leave.

As they all filed out, Asta went over to Arashi. “Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you could be since this is your squad’s Homebase.” Noelle stepped closer to her, as did Yuno, Mimosa, Luck, and Klaus.

“Yeah, well, I’m just not feeling it today,” Arashi answered him.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Mimosa innocently asked.

She looked away. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Come on,” Yuno said, going up to Arashi. “Let’s go back to the garden, yeah?”

“Uh, sure.” 

Once there, she realized that some of the other members of the Royal Knights were spying on them, but she didn’t care. She just kept looking for her notebook and all of a sudden turned to see the sky. It turned orange and pink since she last saw it today.

Arashi found her notebook. “Hey, Yuno?” She asked him as she sat on a bench. She had stashed her notebook in the hedges a few days ago. This was always her go-to spot for drawing or writing things down.

“Yeah?” He questioned, opting to stay standing.

“Thank you, for being out here with me, like you’ve always been.”

“You’re welcome,” He moved to sit next to her and she leaned closer. His arm went around her shoulder. They stayed like that for ten more minutes. He even walked her to her room.

“Good night,” she said to him.

“Goodnight. We have a big day tomorrow, and I wouldn’t like to think that my Lionheart got injured because she was in the wrong headspace.”

“Right.” She closed the door before thinking,  _ “Did he just call me his lionheart?!” _


	11. Attack on the Eye of the Midnight Sun's hideout

The next day was the big day. They arrived at the strong magic region. A rock fortress sat atop a floating mountain. 

“That’s the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s hideout,” Noelle gathered.

“Well, there aren’t many who would set foot in the strong magic regions,” Mereoleona told Nozel. “And since it’s hidden by this magical fog, it’s even harder to spot. Anyone would have difficulty finding it. You figured all that out, and that’s why you had people search the area. You’ve gotten better, Captain of the Silver Eagles.”

“I just happen to have people searching dungeons,” Nozel told her. “And we coincidentally found out it was their hideout.”

“Oh? So what brought the Captain of the Silver Eagles here, then?”

“That’s enough idle chatter,” the silver haired male turned to the sandstone mage. “You can use your spell from this distance, can’t you?”

“Indeed,” the mage answered. “Stone Creation Magic: Stone Model of the World.” Sandstone combined to form the outer rock layer while the layout of the inside was mapped by a glowing white light. Pulsing golden dots appeared in certain areas. They seemed to signify the presence of people.

“I see,” Mereoleona stated upon studying the map. The troops gathered ‘round. “It’s like an ant’s nest that allows entry from anywhere. Seems simple enough to infiltrate. I see there are plenty of guys around Senior Magic Knight level. There’s someone with very powerful magic in the middle. Must be their boss.”

“So that’s where Licht is,” Asta stated.

“Captain Nozel, what is the plan?” A Silver Eagle questioned.

The noble responded with, “I am not the captain of the Royal Knights. The one who’ll decide is Mereoleona.”

“Listen up!” Arashi’s captain projected. “If we want to ambush the enemy and throw them into a state of chaos, we can’t let them know how many of us there are, so splitting up is the best option. But the fact that there are so many entrances, mean that the enemy is confident in their defense. The more we split up, the more that may work against us and overwhelm us. So where does that lead us?”

Asta raised his hand. “We’ll overwhelm them even more with sheer willpower!” He stated.

“We don’t need willpower, I’ll overwhelm them myself.” Yuno commented.

“I wanna mash them all up!” Luck stated.

“I shall defeat them beautifully on my own,” Mimosa’s brother decided.

“I’m surrounded by idiots,” Noelle and Arashi stated simultaneously.

“What’s important is balance,” Klaus inputted. “The most effective way to get through the enemy’s defense while split up is to divide into five teams of four. Is that what you’re thinking?”

“Exactly,” the captain stated. “We will now split up into five groups and proceed.”

“I’ll settle for anyone as long as I don’t end up with crazy stupid shrimp,” Zora remarked.

“Say what?! That’s  _ my _ line, you cool masked jerk!”

“Even when insulting people, you somehow manage to give them a compliment,” Arashi sighed. 

As if not even hearing her, Asta and Zora began to argue. Before it could get very far, Mereoleona put her fire paws on their heads. “You’re coming with me, you damn problem children,” the captain of the Crimson Lion Kings stated.

“Hello there, lady Royal. Please accept this rainbow stink bug as a token of our friendship,” Zora tried.

Before he could even place it on her, another fire paw pushed it into its face. The bug released its stink.

“A stench this weak has no effect on me,” the ginger-haired woman said. 

While plugging his nose, Zora questioned. “You sure you want two peasants hanging around you, Lady Royal?”

“What? You’re a peasant too?” Asta asked the taller Bull. Arashi pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I don’t care if you’re a peasant or royalty. I’ve never given a rat’s ass about difference in status. All that matters is if you’re weak or strong. You’re here because you’re strong, are you not?” They both gasped. “Don’t let me down.”

“Yes ma’am!” “Sure thing. Guess I’ll be careful, Lady Captain.” 

“The rest of you should also be proud to be chosen as Royal Knights,” Mereoleona told the rest of them. “And use your strengths to the fullest. I will now put you into groups.”

Long story short, Arashi was placed in a group with Klaus, Mimosa, and Yuno. Cob was told to stand by. 

“You’d better put your all into this,” Mereoleona told the group. “I’m sure you don’t need any detailed plans. Take down any enemies you encounter as you proceed towards the center. You may do that however you prefer. I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t lose. Let’s go!”

Arashi’s team entered. She was the first to cast a spell. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!” The spell took out three of the enemy.

Noticing that there were two different directions, Arashi sensed the mana currents through the void. “This way!” They turned right. 

The group of the enemy was taken out by Yuno. “Way to go, Yuno!” The Wind Spirit cheered. “Small fries will never be anything more than small fries. Talk about easy.”

“Let’s hurry ahead,” Yuno stated.

Wait,” Arashi told him. “One of them’s still awake,” she sensed.

“I-it is no use,” the Midnight Sun stated. “No matter what you do,”

Sylph made a comment in which Arashi had the urge to shush her, but the spirit would only yell back at her, so she decided against it. 

“We will soon be reborn… in our true forms!” The man said.

“True forms?” Mimosa questioned. “What are you talking about?”

He gave no response. Instead, he just let himself be passed out. 

“Huh?” Arashi was slightly confused. She spotted some strange pattern on the walls. 

“What are these strange patterns?” Mimosa questioned. It seems that she spotted them too. “The deeper we go, the more patterns there are. It’s unsettling.”

All of a sudden, both Yuno and Arashi felt a strange presence, as well as heard a strange noise. They turned ahead of them, knowing exactly where it all was coming from.

“Huh? What is it?” Mimosa asked them.

“Hush,” said Arashi. “Something’s off.”

“You hear it too, right?” Yuno asked her.

“Yeah.” She gasped. “It seems like Captain Mereoleona is fighting someone really powerful.”

“Can you tell who’s winning?” Klaus questioned.

“Not really. They seem kind of matched. Although, Mereoleona has him by surprise.”

A few seconds later, some more of the lackey’s showed up. “Wind Magic: Tornado Fang Triple Strike.” Giant fangs made from tornadoes appeared behind them. “Sorry, but people at your level can’t stop me anymore.” They were knocked out instantly.

Wordlessly, he picked everyone up with his wind magic and carried them upwards, to a different part of the base. 

“It’s that sound again,” Arashi noticed. It seems the others did too. “That heartbeat, and the strange mana we felt from earlier is also there.”

“The feel of this mana,” Sylph said. “I’ve felt this before.”

About an hour later, “Look over there!” Sylph called out. As they neared closer to the top of the stairs, a white light engulfed the opening.

“That’s… a lot of mana,” Klaus pointed out.

“That has to be the center of the hideout,” Mimosa stated. “Everyone be careful.”

“I don’t feel like I’d lose to anyone right now,” Yuno stated.

When they stepped into the room, they noticed that the white light was snapped into a ball. Someone was trapped, or placed inside it.

“This mana… it’s overwhelming,” Arashi thought out loud. It was then that she noticed the strange markings on the person’s face.

“Is it to imprison the person? Or to encase the person, for protection,” Mimosa wondered.

“I’d say it’s the ladder.”

Klaus gasped. “It’s glowing brighter!” They all moved to cover their eyes.

“What’s going on?” Mimosa questioned. “This terrifying magic power… It doesn’t belong to a human being! Everyone! We should leave.”

The two closest to the glowing orb, Yuno and Arashi changed. Their ears became pointier and red markings appeared on their faces. Klaus too had those markings. The Dragon Slayer has heard of such people, with pointy ears and red markings. Easifa once told of a mighty and magical race called Elves. They were wiped out by humans, and now it seems, they are getting their revenge on humanity.

Arashi felt like she was sinking, just like in her dream. She heard herself yell Mimosa to leave, but that wasn’t her. Someone else had taken control of her body, and all she could do was watch.

_ No. _

She can’t let that happen. Not like in her dream. She has to fight! Arashi clawed her way back to being in control of her own body. “Mimosa,” she struggled to say. “You… have to—run!”

“But!” The ginger head tried.

“Just do as I tell you, damn it! I c-can’t stay in control for… much-ch longer!”

And just like that, she started sinking again. Back down into the abyss. The elves chased down Mimosa to a completely different hallway. With Klaus’s magic, the elves were also able to tie her down.

All of a sudden, Asta and Zora appeared. 

_ No. Not again! I have to keep fighting! _

Suddenly, a surge of lightning, clouds, hail, and wind engulfed the Dragon Slayer. When the smoke and clouds cleared, she was able to regain control. The foreign presence of an elven soul in her body was pushed deep down by the Storm. The markings and ears stayed on her face. Arashi glanced at the elf-possessed male beside her. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Turbulent fist!” She punched Yuno in the face with a mana aided fist surrounded by storms. The elf-possessed Yuno looked at her with sheer anger in his eyes.

“How dare you, human,” he said.

“Damn it Yuno, snap out of it!” Just as she was about to attack him again, possessed Klaus tied her up with his magic.

All of a sudden, the last member of the Third Eye has appeared. After Asta had taken a hit from not-Klaus, the remaining Third Eye said, “Come on, now. If you push yourself too hard, you’re gonna die. What a pain. Of course, we won’t need you anymore, once we get your grimoire and swords.” Asta just stood there, ready for a fight. “It doesn’t look like you’re going to give up. In that case,” a large lance formed and aimed itself at Asta. “If you want to protect your precious little royal friend and die, go right ahead.”

“Not yet,” Asta stated. “I’m not going to die yet! I promised my friends I’d come back alive. I won’t let my friends kill my other friends! I’ll survive this! I’ll survive all of this! And then, I’ll become the Wizard King!” Through all that, Arashi was trying to be free of Klaus’s binding spell. As it stood right now, she could not break it.

“This is where you’re going to die!” Possessed Klaus called out as he sent another spiral lance his way.

Yuno stepped in front of the spell and blocked it with his wind magic. “What are you talking about, Asta? I’m the one who will become the Wizard King!” 

Arashi smiled. Now she had the resolve and strength to break free of her chains and joined them. Noticing that Asta was bleeding, she healed him.

“Thank you, Arashi?” Asta said. “Wait are you even her?!”

“You’re welcome Asta,” she replied. “And yes, I am you nitwit.” 

“Wait a minute! Are you actually, Yuno?!” Asta started freaking out, 

“Yeah,” Yuno responded. “Why?”

“What?! But both of your guys’ ears are hella pointy!” Asta argued.

“Yeah, apparently they are. So?” Yuno questioned, not really wanting to hear the answer, or at least acting like it.

“But, I mean… you’re normal?!”

“You’re right!” Sylph seemingly has a new burst of energy. “Look, Yuno. Our ears match!”

“Bell, could you quiet down, please?” Yuno requested of her. 

Arashi rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as the wind spirit and Asta got into an argument. Instead of focusing on them, she focused on Mimosa. “Let’s get you down, yeah?” Mimosa nodded.

Arashi stepped back and formed hail shards. They flew at the Vermillion and only hit her bindings, breaking them instantly.

“You both are one of us now,” possessed Klaus stated. “Come here.”

This broke up the squabbling. Sylph pushed a bunch of air in their faces.

“I can tell,” Yuno stated. “That what’s moving his body right now is a soul that belongs to another person. 

“Klaus has been put to sleep,” Both Arashi and Yuno said.

“Really? Well then how can we save them?” The non-magic knight asked. They didn’t respond.

“I am a Magic Knight of the Clover Kingdom, Yuno,” the dark haired boy stated. “And no one else.”

“I am a Magic Knight if the Clover Kingdom, Arashi,” Akabane followed. “I will never become a vessel for you people to use.”

“Clearly these vessels are humans with very strong wills.” Possessed Klaus noticed. He fixed his glasses and covered his eyes. “It appears they haven’t fully awakened yet. Humans are such a nuisance. We are going to kill those two behind you and then we will have you both leave those bodies!” His hand fell limp.

Yuno and Arashi joined hands to connect mana currents. Together they were able to block the attack just by moving the magic around them to create a powerful shield.

Then, they unleashed a tornado filled lightning and hail. 

“That body belongs to my senior knight,” Yuno stated. “You’re going to have to leave.”

Klaus’s magic power grew around him. The ground shook.

“The ground’s shaking just from you guys glaring at each other!” Asta remarked.

“Oh crap,” said Arashi.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get him out of there,” Yuno stated. “We May have to incapacitate or bind him. I’ll stop him. You guys take Mimosa and go.”

“No way, I’m staying to fight with you,” Arashi told him. “Asta, Mimosa, go. We have this covered.”

Asta laughed before saying, “Like hell. Mimosa, stay back.”

“With the grimoires and knowledge from this age,” Possessed Klaus said as four giant lances came out of nowhere. “We will be able to use even more refined spells.” Some type of large weapon was created. “Le Château du Verre!”

“Well that sure looks crazy,” Asta commented. “You got this, guys?”

“That’s some intense magic, I won’t have time to cover you, Asta,” Yuno replied.

“I might,” said Arashi. “But you have to be ready.”

“Of course,” stated Asta.

All three of their mana (and anti-mana) spiked. “Go! Le Château du Verre!” Possessed Klaus launched the weapon. The giant machine moved towards them. The lances in the front started spinning.

With a beam of his mana burst, Yuno came at the enemy. With wings, Arashi cast, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!!” Those two spells combined barreled right through the Château’s defenses. Asta slashed at the large machine. As it broke, Yuno created a shield from his mana. The Château broke. Possessed Klaus fell to the ground.

“You three are amazing!” Mimosa said to them.

The elf who was floating there, stopped Klaus from falling, making himself and the possessed magic knight float. All without using magic.

“Holy shit, his mana is so incredibly dense,” Arashi noticed.

The elf floated the knocked out Klaus safely to the ground and walked towards the awake magic knights.

“The leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun,” said Asta. It was barely above a whisper. “And that sword…” A sword just like Asta’s appeared in the elf’s hands. The magic knight took out his own. He now held two swords. 

_ “So this is where he was,” _ Arashi thought.

Suddenly, Asta looked like he was at his limit.

“Asta, be careful,” Yuno advised.

“Yeah, I know.” He replied. Somehow, the elf came right up to Asta.

_ “He’s way more than fast. I can’t even sense his mana!”  _ Arashi freaked.

Licht raised his sword, which glowed white, and slashed at the air. White slashes came barreling towards them.

They moved away and kept dodging everyone of his slashes. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” She tried. They were blocked by the light-filled slashes.

The elf chose to go after Yuno. Asta intercepted him, pushing him back. They clashed swords.

Yuno circled im on the ground, inadvertently creating a super strong wind gusts. “Wind spirit magic: Liable Tempest!” Yuno cast. The wind created a trap which wrapped Licht up tightly. “Don’t miss,” he told Asta. The three magic knights stood right next to each other.

“That doesn’t sound like you, Yuno,” Asta commented before zooming up to the tied up elf. Something was off.

“Asta! Behind you!” Yuno and Arashi yelled. The elf had teleported out of the trap and behind Asta, slashing at him.

Asta dodged, and kept dodging the slashes. Yuno tried to hit him with his wind arrows, but Licht came at him before he could do anything. Both boys crashed into each other, and then the wall.

“Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!!!” Wind, hail, and lightning shot towards the elf and followed him. He teleported behind her. She turned around with storms gathering in her hands. She flung them at him. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Wail Shurikens!” He dodged and slashed at her. Unable to dodge that, she crashed into the wall. A large gash appeared on her arm. That was the side she barreled into the rock wall on. “Damn it!” She cast Lazarus mist to heal herself and watched Yuno fight Licht in the sky. Her healing was fast, so she was able to join him quickly. 

With two daggers in her hand, both made out of storms, she fought alongside Yuno. Both of them couldn’t get an opening. When Yuno finally did, he made his mana burst go behind the elf. “Mana zone! Spirit storm!” Even if that was an opening, Licht was blocking it now. Arashi found her opening. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Storm Dragon’s roar!!!” It didn’t seem to matter, he blocked the attack with his other sword. 

All of a sudden, a dark beam emerged from the hideout. Both mages immediately recognized it as Asta. “Not yet!” The Black Bull cried out. They made their way to the non-magic human. “Asta/Yuno is my rival!!!” The boys both screamed, making Arashi smile as she too shot her magic at the elf. Their combined attack was no use. He still blocked it with his sword. Licht pushed back the three magic knights, back into the hideout. They yelled out as they protected themselves and Mimosa from the blast, which burned most everything in the area down.

Yuno and Arashi created a windshield that carried the four of them away to the rim of the trees. Once they landed, it appeared that Asta was knocked out. Sylph started freaking out about Yuno being wet and her catching a cold.

A rustle came from the bushes. They turned towards it. It was Zora. “This way,” he said. “The Silver Eagles’ Captain is over here, too.”

The three of them picked up Asta and followed Zora as the hideout, glowing near golden, began to float away.

When they got there, and laid him down, he shot up and started freaking out that he passed out, and how he was wet, and how his body hurt all over.

“You sure are noisy when you wake up,” Yuno remarked as Arashi healed him.

Next, Asta got into an argument with Sylph. 

“Asta, thank goodness,” said Mimosa, breaking his argument with the wind spirit. An anti-bird sat upon the ginger’s head.

“Mimosa, I’m glad you’re okay,” Asta stated. “ow ow ow.”

“Stay still bakasta,” The dragon slayer scolded him.

“You’ve called me that countless times, and I still have no idea what it means,” Asta stated. She didn’t reply. He then turned around to find that the hideout had floated away. “Hey! What the heck?!? Where’d it go?!?”

“This really sucks,” Zora stated, grabbing Asta’s attention. The tall bull squatted down. “But while you were asleep, it started heading towards the royal capital.”

“What?! Wait, Zora? Ow~!” 

Arashi rolled her eyes. “If you keep moving like that, I can’t exactly heal you now can I? Besides, I was almost done.”

“Right, sorry,” the stupid shrimp said.

“You actually did come back alive,” Zora went on to say, “Just how lucky are you, you little shit?” The redhead then studied Arashi’s face and stood up. “Hey, wait a minute-!”

“Everything’s fine. I managed to press the elf deep down. Though I’m not sure how to get her soul out of my body.” The tall man let it go. “Where’s Mereoleona?” Arashi questioned as she finished healing Asta up. 

The redhead pointed behind him. “She’s still pleasantly knocked out.”

The Crimson Lion King stood up immediately. “What?!” Not even waiting for an explanation, she went over to her. She was all beaten and bloody. Arashi sighed as she kneeled down to heal her.

“Thank goodness she’s okay,” Asta stated.

“Doesn’t seem like she’s waking up any time soon, and she’d probably kill us if we woke her.”

The captain of the Silver Eagles and that mushroom guy from the Praying Mantis emerged from the bushes. Asta had started consuming some herbs, saying that he’d get some stamina back. “You can’t be serious,” Yuno told him. “You’re not supposed to eat them raw.”

All of a sudden, Nozel gave them a magic healing item. Noelle and Kirsch, Mimosa’s brother, finally arrived. Arashi studied the night sky as they all talked.

Her attention was brought back to the moment when Nozel’s comm went off. “Captain Nozel! Come in!” Everyone quieted down.

“What is it?” the captain answered.

“Captain Nozel! Thank goodness! I finally got through to you!” The staticy voice said.

“What’s that?” questioned Asta.

“It’s a special communication magic item that all the captains use,” the mushroom guy told him.

“A number of our squad members suddenly went berserk,” the voice on the comm stated. “And started saying things like, ‘We’re elves!’” Everyone gasped. “They have way more magic than usual! We can’t handle them on our own! Apparently, similar incidents are happening with all of the squads. There’s something going on all over the kingdom-Ahhh!” It would seem that whoever was on the other side of that line was attacked. The audio cut out.

“What’s wrong? Come in,” Nozel tried.

“The same thing that’s happened here, is happening all over the country,” Arashi stated. Everyone’s attention turned to her. “Damn elves.”

“I’m sorry, what-?” Zora tried to question. She cut her off.

“They  _ are _ elves. I remember Easifa, the dragon who trained me, told me a story about a race of people called elves. They were very powerful in terms of magic and looked very different from humans. All of their skin was pale, and their hair was white. They tried to make peace with the humans, but we responded by killing them all off. It would seem that one of them, Licht, conducted a forbidden resurrection spell. Gathering the magic stones must have been the only way to complete it. Now, they inhabit the bodies of us humans. Well, most of us, anyway.”

“We are magic knights,” Nozel stated. “We must save the Clover kingdom, no matter what happens. Even if we have to kill our fellow magic knights.”

“Luck,” Noelle said, looking down at the grass. “Luck’s attack didn’t hit me. Despite how fast he was, we were still able to get away. I think he made sure that would happen.”

“He did hit me, though,” Kirsch stated, laying down in the field of recovery magic Nozel gave them.

“Maybe he was trying to regain control of his body,” Arashi pointed out. “That’s why Yuno and I are standing here right now instead of inside that floating hideout.”

“I’m sure there must be a way for them to regain their senses. There must be a way. We, the magic knights will save them. Both the kingdom and our friends!” People agreed.

Nozel smirked a little and cast a spell that lifted everyone off of the ground. On to the capital they went.


	12. Saving Hage Village

As they floated in the air, Arashi gasped. Suddenly, wings made out of clouds sprouted from her back. She flew off.

“Arashi!!” Asta called after her. “Where are you going?!”

“Hage! Something’s wrong! I think they’re under attack! Go to the capital! I’ll handle this!” She flew off before Nozel could say otherwise. A minute or so later, Yuno and Asta had joined her in the sky.

“Like hell we’re going to let our home be destroyed!” Asta yelled. His aura glowed black. The demonic wing, marking, and hair accompanied him too. Yuno flew with his wind.

Once they were close, Arashi said, “Go on ahead and fight the bad guy. I’m going to find my brother and heal everyone else. If he’s okay, I’ll send him over to you.” With that, she split off from them.

Her first stop was her house. “Hello?” she called. “Is anyone home?” The knight spotted her mother in a seat, looking sickly. What looked like poison from a plant covered her body. The woman whimpered. Her eyes were slightly closed. “Jesus Crist.”

“Your late,” came a voice from the hall. It was Akuma’s but he sounded older, and he looked taller too.

“I know,” Arashi sighed. “But I’m here now. Are you alright? Are you poisoned?” she questioned, walking up to her brother.

He brushed her arm away, saying, “I’m fine, sis. Everyone one else is either dead or poisoned.” 

“... I see.”

He studied her features for a moment. “And what the heck is up with your face? I saw the same markings on the guy attacking our village.”

“Long story short… elves.” The Dragon Slayer went over to her mother. 

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I’ll explain later.”

“You can explain it to me now.”

“A-arishi? Are you really home?” their mother asked in a weak voice.

“Hey mom. I’m home. I didn’t leave like Karma.” She kneeled down. “Storm Recovery magic: Lazarus mist.” A gentle kind of mist surrounded the woman. “This may take a moment.”

“It’s alright.” Akuma was now leaning against a wall. A small moment of silence engulfed them before her brother realized the name she had said. “During your travels, did you ever find Karma?”

“I did.” Arashi chose not to look at him. “As it turns out, he’s in the same Magic knight Squad as me.”

“Seriously!?” A thud sounded. He made an impact on the wall. “What the hell?”

“Apparently, he wanted to come back to us… but being a magic knight has so much responsibility.”

“Do you believe him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?!”

“I could tell he was sincere when he told me.”

“He could have been lying!”

“Yelling won’t solve anything!” She snapped at him, turning her head to finally look at him. “So please, keep it down while I heal our mother.”

“Fine.”

She looked around the room. New furniture was in place. And, the walls seemed different too. “I see you put the money I sent you guys to good work.”

“Yeah, we did. We were actually able to buy new paints, and build out the house a bit more too.”

A few minutes later, their mother was fully healed. The two of them heard shouting outside. “That will be Asta and Yuno,” Arashi told him. “Since you’re not helping around here, why don’t you go fight with them, try to keep this village safe and from burning to the ground.”

Akuma smiled. “Sure, sis.” He could have very well asked, “When’d you become this bossy?” but she’s glad that he didn’t. The younger version of him might have, though.

Once her mother was placed in her bed, she ventured out into the village. Literally everyone was laying on the ground, poisoned. She got to the center of the village. There, she cast, “Storm Recovery magic: Rain’s mend. And. Storm recovery magic: Lazarus mist.” The sky darkened slightly and rain started pouring. Then mist filled the streets. The knight sat down and waited for everyone to be fully healed. It wasn’t very long.

Finally, she made her way towards Asta, Yuno, and Akuma. Yuno and Akuma fought the enemy while Asta stood near the priest. “Arashi, was that you?” Asta questioned.

“Of course it was, silly,” she answered, but then she saw the sword he held in his hand. “Isn’t that…?”

“Yeah, it is. It must have gotten into my grimoire when we attacked him.”

“What? I’m alive?” Came the priest’s voice. The small children rushed to him. “Or am I dreaming? I thought that this would be the end of me.”

“No, Arashi made you all better!” “Yeah!” “She made the whole town better!” The kids told him.

The priest shot up with his hands clasped. “Oh, Arashi, I knew you’d do great things and come back one day!” He then turned to see Asta. “Asta, you’re here too?”

The white haired boy took on a look of pure shock before smiled at him.

As Yuno, and Akuma fought the elf, he questioned. “She managed to eradicate my poison?! Normal magic couldn’t heal that!”

“While that may be true,” Arashi stated. “My magic comes from a dragon. Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” Little sickles of lightning came towards him. He dodged some of them, but one hit his plant. 

“But how?!” The elf kept asking. “You and him are both under the same reincarnation spell as the rest of us. So then why is the will of your human host still in control? And you!” He turned to Asta. “That blade belongs to Licht. So how can it get into _your_ filthy hands?” He squatted down and ran his hands through his hair. The elf was visibly freaking out. “What’s more, someone without any magic power, shouldn’t be able to wield it at all. It’s just not possible. Who are you anyway?”

“We are Magic Knights,” Arashi told him. “Get used to it.”

The elf rose. “You disgust me. You’re just human garbage! We tried to understand, but they made it perfectly clear. THEY WERE ALL MONSTERS!!!” His magic spiked. “Humans. I CAN NEVER FORGIVE YOU!! SO STAY OUT OF OUR WAY OR YOU’RE DEAD!!!” A strange feeling filled the air.

“He’s not even trying to hold back his magic,” Sylph commented. “He can’t control himself!”

“You’re right, his mana says it all,” Yuno said.

“The elf spirit inside is crying out,” Arashi stated. “He’s turning into something that isn’t an elf at all. I can’t get close.”

“I can,” stated Akuma. He turned to Asta. “Asta, give me your sword.” He did. “Take Over Magic: Blue Wolf Chimera!” Akuma cast. Asta’s sword was held in the wolf’s mouth. Arashi gasped at the sight of it, remembering her cursed dream. The blue wolf spirit was a blue wolf with ram horns, crow wings, and a snake for a tail. He flew up to the elf and stabbed him in the chest. 

The elf screamed in pain as he disappeared. The markings and the pointed ears are now gone. Akuma’s eyes widened. Quickly, he turned to Asta, saying, “Hey Asta! Even if this is your sword, I get the credit!”

“Hey, Yuno should get credit too,” Sylph complained. 

“Of course,” Akuma stated with a smile.

“Hey, don’t forget that I was the one who healed all these people,” Arashi pointed out. She then turned to the no-mag. “The only thing you did was stand there with your sword. We split the credit evenly between the three of us.”

The children all ran towards the knights. They all called out their heroes’ names and hugged them, giving them praise. All Arashi did was smile back at them and say thank you. The children marveled at Sylph once they saw her.

“Asta… Yuno… Arashi… Akuma,” came a voice from behind them. They turned to see the priest. Sister Lily held his arm, as if to steady him.

“Father,” Yuno said.

“Are you okay?” Asta asked him eagerly.

“I’m still a little bit dizzy, but thanks to Arashi, other than that, I’m fine. Thank you for saving us all,” the old man told them.

“You three have grown so much,” Lily commented. Asta, for what seemed the millionth time, maybe even more than that, asked her to marry him. She delivered a water punch to the face. The others ignored his pain.

“Am I chopped Liver?!” Akuma sulked.

“No, silly, I’m just telling them that since I haven’t seen them in a while,” the dark-haired woman told the teen. “And they really have matured a lot.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” the Akabane siblings remarked.

All of a sudden, one of the kids saw the markings on both Arashi’s and Yuno’s faces, as well as the pointy ears.

“What’s going on in the kingdom?” The priest questioned. “One horrifying thing after another keeps happening, and I have no idea what’s going on.”

“We don’t have much time, but we should probably tell them,” Arashi stated.

“Yeah,” agreed Yuno. “Another Magic Knight who’s been reincarnated as an elf might attack.”

“Don’t worry!” Asta felt the need to say. “When it comes to this kingdom and its people,

“We’ll do everything we can to protect them!” The three knights said in unison.

The premiers held a small meal for them to recover what mana and stamina they’ve lost. While Arashi was grateful for the food, she knew she had somewhere else to be. Reluctantly excusing herself, and grabbing some potatoes and water, she slipped away into the woods and towards her aunt, the dragon.

—————

Once she found the cave, the mage took some time to herself and munched on a potato before going in. After gulping down some water, she went inside.

The familiar warming presence of a wonderful storm filled the air. Arashi remembers that Easifa was the one to show her that storms could be beautiful too. Once she reached the silver dragon, Arashi saw that she too was eating. Not all that long ago, Easifa had hunted down a boar.

“Ah, my darling Arashi,” Easifa greeted after swallowing her food. “It’s so nice of you to finally stop by.” The pleasantness of the rain stopped and became thunderous. “It only took you more than half the year.”

“Seriously, Auntie?” Arashi stepped closer. “Akuma’s already given me that crap.”

“And so he should, you have, after all haven’t bothered to show up in person until that damned village was attacked.”

“I know, and I’ve already apologized.”

“Good,” the dragon noticed the basket she carried. “Now come over here and get some real food. I can’t have my one and only magical heir feeding on those trashy potatoes.”

“Hey!” Arashi seemed to take offense. “For your information, I happen to like them. But the boar sure sounds great.” The human sat next to the dragon’s left front paw. Upon inspecting the price of meat that it held, she realized that it was already cooked. “Already struck it with lightning I see. But why though? You can eat boar raw. It’s me who needs it to be cooked.”

“Dear, I could sense you from miles away,” Easifa stated, nudging the cooked meat closer to her. 

“Thank you auntie.”

Easifa peered at her niece’s face. “You look different, like an elf…” her stare intensified as she thought.It made Arashi wonder if the elf inside of her was Easifa’s old apprentice.

“Yes, Easifa, they’re back.” She took a bite of the meat, hiding her concern for the concept that just came to her. The dragon appeared to be thinking. “Did you not think that they would come back?” 

“I did, but I hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Here,” her left paw was raised up. The silver dragon’s talons touched Arashi’s forehead and right shoulder. The mage felt the mana and the elf leave her. The Crimson Lion King closes her eyes briefly. She didn’t see the sadness in the dragon’s old eyes.

When she opened them again, she found that the paw had removed itself from the general vicinity of her face. “Thank you, auntie.”

“You’re welcome, dear.”

They are in silence. The mage was almost done with her meat when she felt something nag at her mind. Arashi brought up Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer. “I see,” Easifa considered her words. “And he said that there were five others?” The Magic Knight nodded. “Then there may be hope for the dragon race after all.”

Arashi reached out and felt the mana of Yuno bear by. “Thank you for the food, Auntie, but I’m afraid I must be going back to the capital now.”

“Of course, child, and do say hello to Yuno for me.” The teen smiled as she left, remembering to pick up the now empty basket and water glass.

“It was good seeing you,” she said to the old dragon.

It wasn’t long before she stumbled up the tall handsome jerk. “I thought you would be out here,” he said as he turned to her. His eyes widened for a brief second. “The markings, and the ears-“ he stopped talking when he felt one of Arashi’s hands go on her forehead, while the other went on his shoulder. “What are you doing?” 

“I’m going to get rid of the elf inside you… unless you don’t want me to.”

“Thank you, but i want to hang onto him.”

Arashi smiled sadly. “ As you wish. Let’s head back now, yeah?”

“Sure.”

————

The three of them were just about to leave when the Purple Orca’s guy came up to them. Arashi’s two companions didn’t seem to ask him anything, so she figured that they must have met already.

“Hey, do you guys mind if I hitch a ride with you?” He asked. He seemed sort of sheepish.

“No, of course,” Asta stated.

Arashi created a storm dragon only large enough for herself while Yuno lifted the other two up on his wind magic and they all headed towards the capital. Asta yelled down to the orphan kids about something while Arashi waved goodbye to her family. “I’ll come back soon, I promise!” She projected.

“Yeah, yeah!” Akuma called after her. “See ya!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo~ the dragon made an appearance.


	13. Saving the Clover Kingdom part 1

She hadn’t really realized it, but Arashi had been traveling at a much faster speed that Yuno. She shrugged it off and just went to the capital. 

_ “I really hope that none of the Dragon Slayers from Fiore are here,”  _ she thought.

Knowing that the Crimson Lion King’s headquarters are close to the capital, she made a point in stopping there first.

It was nearly empty, save for the few guards assigned to watch the pinned down elf. Luckily, yet unluckily for him, he had possessed the vice captain of this squad.

She touched down. “Arashi, you’re back,” one of the guards said.

“Yes, I am,” she said as she stepped towards the prisoner, chained by fire.

“What are you doing?” Another guard questioned her, ready to be on the offensive.

“I’m helping,” was all she said as she used Easifa’s technique to get rid of the elf’s soul. The vice-captain still appeared to be out cold. Once it left, she said, “You can get rid of those chains now. He won’t harm you.”

“How did you do that?” 

“Oh, just a technique I learned from a dragon.”

With that settled, she headed for the capital.

—————

When she arrived, they saw that the capital was in utter chaos. 

Arashi, still on her storm-created dragon, fought off many of the elves. Once some of them got close enough, she’d cast a binding spell and get rid of the elves using the technique that Easifa showed her. 

Somehow, she found herself in the Silva residence. It was quite large, and she felt the presence of an elf… and Noelle in battle. Both of their mana were giving off strong vibes. Arashi reaches out into the void, and found that two of their mana presence are fading. It wasn’t Noelle, no, it was her siblings. Knowing that if healed, they would help a great deal and ignoring the fact that they are nobles who would definitely look down on her, she sprinted up the steps to find the room they were all in was almost completely in shambles.

Noelle had on some kind of water armor. Arashi walked up to Solid and the other two, saying, “Please, allow me to heal them.”

Knowing her powers, Solid allowed it. “Storm Recovery Magic: Lazarus Mist.” The mage got up and pulled the weird objects out of Nozel’s body.

The whole room seemed to glow green. To protect them from the strange objects being hurled at them (It’s really Noelle who the elf is aiming for, but she keeps dodging), Arasi creates a shield made out of storm clouds. As she concentrated on getting the Silver Eagles members better, she couldn’t help but notice that Noelle had become even stronger in the last few hours. That armor spell looked pretty effective. It was then that Arashi also realized that the elf the Black Bull was fighting was a member of the Golden Dawn.

“No be destroyed! You and this world!” Arashi heard Noelle shout. The mana that covered the entire room dispersed, revealing that the walls and roof had been destroyed. The woman was down, knocked out. “Did I win?” she questioned herself

“You sure did,” stated Arashi as she made sure that the mist would continue healing before she moved. The Crimson Lion King then took down the forcefield of clouds and made her way to the elf. She placed one hand on the elf’s forehead, and another on her shoulder. As her eyes glowed, the others noticed that she was killing the elf with just that. Soon, the elven markings on the Golden Dawn member faded.

“What… did you do?” Noelle questioned breathily.

“Well,” Arashi pretended to think. “Just a technique I learned from a dragon…” she turned around to face the Silva’s. “But that’s none of my business,” she joked. The teen then made her way over to the silver-haired girl in pigtails. “You did well.”

All of a sudden, more possessed Golden Dawn members appeared. “How dare you do that to Kvin,” one of them stated. “It appears that we have underestimated you humans.” Pages in his grimoire turned. “That will not happen again. Begone!” A massive amount of flames were aimed at Solid.

“Solid!” Noelle called out. Just as Arashi was about to move to protect them, a magic circle appeared behind him, effectively blocking the attack. Then, the magic was shot back at the elf, twice as strong. Zora had arrived at the scene.

“Now that’s what I call a perfect surprise attack,” Zora Ideale stated. He laughed. “Not bad. It’s even more insane when it’s doubled.” It was then that Arashi realized he was carrying someone. “With the amount of magic you’re putting up, I figured a crowd would show up eventually.”

“Zora,” Noelle stated, turning his attention towards her.

“Go on, get to work, you royal attendant jerk.” Zora dropped the person he was carrying onto the ground.

He fell on his ass. “What are you thinking, bringing me somewhere so dangerous?!” The attendant questioned.

“I saved your ass, so now you’re gonna listen to me.”

Bored, Arashi searched out into the void for any traces of her squad members. Once she found them, she didn’t like what she was sensing. The Crimson Lion King went up to Zora and the attendant. “I would say that I’ve got this covered, but I have to make sure my brother doesn’t die. Nebra is in pretty good shape, thanks to me. It’s Nozel you need to worry about.”

Without another word, she left them.

—————

In no time at all, she found her brother getting brutally beaten by one of the possessed Golden Dawn members. While the opponent was occupied with destroying her brother, she masked her presence with mist—becoming completely invisible—and struck at the elf from behind. Specifically, she struck certain pressure points and got rid of the elf using Easifa’s technique.

“Are you okay?” She asked her brother as she began to heal him. He only nodded.

“Arashi!” Leopold’s voice came in. Both Akabanes turned to see him coming up to them. “Those were some sweet moves. Yet, I can’t help but feel like they were like an assassin’s.”

“You’ve seen my brother and I practice in the field, right?” Arashi questioned him. He almost seemed too scared to answer. When she sings, she doesn’t seem to notice people watching her, but when she fights, Leopold now recognizes that that’s a completely different story. “Right, well, we made a pact a little while ago. It simply stated that if one of us died at the hands of an opponent, or close to death, the other would take the opportunity to strike the opponent from behind.”

“That almost doesn’t seem like something you would do,” came a familiar voice. The three of them looked to see Captain Fuegoleon.

“Oh my god,” she said as she stood up. “You’re… awake.” Arashi then spotted his right hand. It was made of flames. “Your hand. I’m sorry I-”

“Arashi.” Her Captain’s voice was kind, yet firm. “Relax. You did a wonderful job healing me.”

She smiled and averted her eyes for a second. “Th-thank you… I’m glad that you’re awake. By the way, I hope you didn’t kill anyone. They are still Magic Knights. They’re just being possessed by elves.”

“Elves, you say?” Fuegoleon questioned.

“Yes. That is what Licht aimed to do. Bring back the race of elves, and destroy us.” She walked back to her brother. “I still need to heal him. You can go. I can protect us both.”

“Sure,” said Leopold as the lions separated from the assassins.

“You actually… remembered that?” Karma questioned weakly.

“Of course. Karasuma’s teachings are still in here,” she gestured to her head. “But seriously, how could you not remember that?”

“Who says... I didn’t?”

“Well you hinted at it, so I wasn’t sure… Akuma’s still angry at you by the way.”

“You… saw them?”

“On our way back, Yuno, Asta and I saw that our village was in trouble, so we went to help.”

“I see.”

Just when Arashi finished healing her older brother up, he said, “You might want to look behind you.”

Quickly, she turned around to see the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s base floating in the air. Elves came down into the city from it. “Damn it, they’re here already?” She asked no one.

“You know who these people are?” Karma questioned as he got up.

“That giant floating rock right there is the hideout of the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s. And those shining golden lights flying towards the city are elves.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Pages flipped as she found the correct spell. “Nevertheless, there are still a bunch of other elves killing humans in the city. Ready for a mass assassination?”

“Always.” 

“Good. Knock them out or hold them down long enough for me to get rid of the elves possessing their bodies.”

“You got it.” 

With that, the Akabane siblings had reentered the fight.

—————

As they took down their second elf, they saw a massive circle in the sky. “What the?” Arashi questioned.

A giant moving building, in the shape of a bull, was there as well. “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if that was the Black Bulls hideout,” Karma stated.

Asta’s shouting gave them the answer.

“Yep, definitely the Black Bulls,” both Akabanes stated.

If it hadn’t been for their assassination training, then they wouldn’t have sensed the elf who snuck (Or tired to sneak) up on them by concealing their mana. They didn’t even try to use thiers. The two of them just kicked him in the stomach. Before he could even respond, Arashi was on him, killing the elf with Easifa’s technique. As they did though, the Bulls who were not in the giant building shouted at the ones who were just to be able to talk.

The elves who emerged from the hideout grouped together in the sky. “Curse you human!” The elf who possessed Klaus stated. “It doesn’t matter how many of you show up! You’re no match for us elves!” He then went on and on.

“If only there was a way to shut him up,” Arashi stated out loud.

“Well,” said Karma. His mana radiated off of him. “I can think of one thing.” They smiled at each other as they faced one another, joined hands, and looked up at the elves. Arashi’s left hand, and Karma’s right hand extended to level with their eyesight.

“Now, Dragon Slayer Magic!” “And Weapon Magic!” “Unison Raid!!” A swirl of storms and swords were hurled at the group of elves. As those pointy eared beings flew towards the giant Bull building, only one of them was shot down by the Akabanes’ Unison Raid.

“Damn it,” Arashi stated.

“Welp, at any rate, they’re being taken care of the Black Bulls now,” Karma almost sighed.

From the moving fortress came balls of some of the Bull’s magic, including some that she recognized to be from The Eye of the Midnight Sun. Putting that fact aside, she saw that three more of them were picked off.

“Curse you! Take this!” Arashi heard possessed Klaus shout. He fired a bunch of metal lances at them. By what was probably thread magic, their attack missed. Then, the building smashed another one of the elves.

All of a sudden, the hideout glowed rainbow. “No way,” said Karma. “Is that, the Coral Peacocks’ Captain?!”

“What the-?” Arshi asked for the second time this night. Part of the Bull’s moving fortress disappeared.

Licht’s light daggers and a bunch of mirrors appeared around the moving fortress. The light bounced off the mirrors and destroyed the building. 

Some of the elves flew through that strange circle in the air and didn’t come out the other side.  _ “I see,” _ thought Arashi.  _ “So it’s a portal.” _

Since they weren’t where Asta and the other Black Bulls were, they didn’t get mirrors and weren’t immobilized. How could they tell this? Their mana sensing ability showed them. Their mana and bodies have been blocked.

“Hey, we should get rid of that mirror mage, right?” Arashi questioned her brother.

“Yeah, probably,” Karma answered.

“Or even easier, we can get rid of those mirrors.”

Conjuring a storm, and making cloud wings, she flew high enough so that she could see all who were affected by mirrors. Then, she struck lightning at all of them, effectively shattering them.

At that same time, she saw Asta’s sword absorb the paralysis effect. 

Before she could be spotted, falconswift, she flew back down. Mirrors reappeared.

“I was going to tell you that that wouldn’t work,” Karma stated. “But you went ahead before I could say it.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” They could see bright lights bounce off of the new mirrors.

“Come on, let’s get deeper into the city and avoid those mirrors. There’s bound to be some elves that we can pick off.”

  
  
  



	14. Saving the Capital part 2: The Shadow Palace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! Another chapter’s posted! It’s been a few days right?

All of a sudden, the Akabanes felt this immense presence. It wasn’t mana. “Could that be, Asta?” Arashi wondered out loud, remembering the feeling she got from the Royal Knights Selection Exam and the battle at the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s hideout.

“Who else would it be?” her older brother questioned.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she sighed.

As they walked through the streets and found elves that were knocked out, Arashi expelled them from the bodies of the Magic Knights they once possessed. There weren’t very many left. Or at least, that’s how it seemed. At the moment, they have no way of knowing how many elves are actually out there in the world, and in this country alone.

Now, they’re at a point where they could see the strange portal that the elves were disappearing into. It looked to be getting smaller. “Should we?” Arashi questioned.

“Yeah, we should,” Karma decided.

With wings made out of clouds, she carried her brother as she went back towards the south of the city (where Asta and the others were). When they got there, Arashi was surprised to see Mereoleona was up. Fuegoleon was also there. With the Salamander spirit too. Another surprising fact to see was that Nozel was up. 

“Where the hell have you two been?!” Asta questioned while pointing a finger at them.

“Picking off the remaining elves scattered throughout the city. If they were knocked out, then, you know, I just made them leave the Knight’s bodies.”

“Wait a minute, you did what-?!” Mereoleona asked.

“Get rid of them without killing the host,” Arashi answered calmly. She then looked off to the side, realizing, “Man, I’ve explained it a lot today.” Charmy came up to her and her brother with some snacks, which the Akabanes happily received.

“I see.”

“Oh no,” Mimosa stated. “We have to hurry!” Everyone turned their attention to her. She told us exactly what an elf said to her and her brother in the one of the buildings: “When we put the final magic stone in its pedestal inside the palace, the elves’ reincarnation will be complete. In exchange, the souls of the humans who owned these bodies will be sent to the underworld!”

“Really?” Arashi asked in a manner that came off as way calmer than it should have been. “We’ll see about that.”

Another elf appeared from the rubble. It was almost like there was an explosion of smoke. “How dare you.” Six other elves appeared behind him. “You Humans!”

“The Golden Dawn’s senior magic knight,” one of the humans said.

“There’s no time,” Mereoleona considered, “But with these numbers.”

“Captains,” addressed Vanessa. “We, the Black Bulls, will take care of them! As long as Charmy and I are here, we won’t die.”

“Leave it to us!” Charmy stated.

“Asta, you should go too!” Magna told him. “They’ll probably need that sword of yours!”

“Rodger!” Asta replied. He saluted them. “I won’t let you down!”

“But there still are a lot of people possessed by elves, so hurry back!”

“Yes, sir!”

“And you, Arashi? Karma?” Mereoleona questioned.

“There’s no way we’re leaving our captains behind,” Karma told her. He then turned to his sister. “Right sis?”

“Of course not,” she responded. “That’s just a given. Besides, with Mimosa and I with different groups, both of them will have healing mages.”

“I’ll go too!” Noelle decided.

“Alright,” the Captains of the Crimson Lion Kong’s stated. “Don’t fall behind!” The Vermillions rode on the Salamander, taking Asta with them, while the Akabanes rode on a storm dragon Arashi created. Meanwhile, Nozel conjured up a silver bird, taking Noelle with him.

“We won’t let you!” Shouted the currently leading elf.

“We won’t let you get in their way!!!” The Black Bulls and the other two Vermillions shouted at them, engaging in battle.

The seven flying mages went through the portal and into the Shadow palace.

The portal was strange. There was mostly blackness, and these weird mana-like things floating around. 

“Where the heck are we?!” Asta questioned.

They all gasped as the creatures they rode on disappeared. Now, they were floating. 

“What’s going on here?” The sandy blonde haired boy questioned.

“Is this… an obstacle to anyone who tries to infiltrate the palace?” Fuegoleon wondered.

Mereoleona laughed. “We’re surrounded by strange mana.”

Arashi tried to generate the smallest of storms, but it didn’t work. The dragon slayer gasped. “What the heck?”

“The shadow palace,” Nozel stated. “I hear it’s the boundary between this world and the next.”

Asta started freaking out. “Wait, are we going to die?!”

“That’s not funny!!” Noelle yelled at him.

“Don’t be silly, Bakasta, As long as we make it out, we won’t,” Arashi told him.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better! And I still have no idea what Bakasta means!!” He yelled at the Crimson Lion King.

“Honestly, could you be any more dense,” Karma murmured, hoping that the Bull didn’t hear.

“I won’t die!” Asta shouted.

Things faded into pure black. Arashi found that she could generate magic now, and created a storm cloud for herself and Karma to stand on. The brick walls of a building became visible. Or is that the floor?

As they looked around, they realized it was only those two. “Where did the others go?” Arashi questioned no one.

“Don’t know, don’t really care,” Karma stated as he folded his hands behind his head.

“Of course you don’t.”

They sensed an elf near the end of the tunnel.

“Weapon magic: Unlimited Blade Works!” Karma casted at the elf. Countless swords shot out from portals at the target. They dodged, still managing to be unseen from the Akabanes. They reappeared behind them.

Quickly turning around, Arashi cast, “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz claws!” Crescent shaped lightning shot out at the elf. He dodged that too. It was then that Arashi noticed that the person the elf possessed belonged to the Golden Dawn.

“Weapon magic: Gae Bolg!” A red spear appeared in Karma’s hands as he lunged for the elf. She dodged. He swung again, colliding with a sword made out of fire magic. 

As they dueled for a small period of time, Arashi came up from behind the elf and struck two of the pressure points.

“Why you little-“ the elf started to say before Karma drop-kicked her in the head. She wasn’t knocked out, however. The woman tried to use her magic. “What the-? My magic is weaker.” The elf’s face twisted in anger as she faced Arashi. “You little brat! What did you do?” 

All of a sudden, Arashi felt the familiar mana presence of one of her friends. _“Yuno,”_ she thinks. _“So you finally get here.”_ Even from how far away she was from him, she could tell that he was way powerful. He’s still keeping on with that elf inside of him.

With a cloud shield, Arashi blocked the attack of flames. As the elf focused on the sister, the brother took it as a chance to strike. He launched the spear near her side. He grazed her. Noticing that she’s been slightly injured, she stops attacking Arashi. Next, she fires two beams of flames. One for each sibling. 

As the Akabanes dodged, they gasped. There was some strange and evil presence they hadn’t felt before. It was vile. Almost like a demon’s. Remembering where they were, they stopped dodging.

“I think we should end this quickly,” Arashi stated. Her mana grew more and more.

“Agreed,” stated her brother as he too irradiated mana. They joined together.

“Dragon Slayer Magic!” “And Weapon Magic! Unison raid!” A large beam of concentrated storms and weapons spiraled towards the elf. She couldn’t dodge it. The beam rammed her right into the wall, eventually breaking through.

“You go through the whole, I’m going to find everyone else,” Karma decided.

“Okay,” Arashi allowed, watching him run off.

The younger Akabane sibling walked through the hole to see Asta and Yuno making a tornado as they blocked the swords that rained down on them. “If you’re going to get in our way, then you can break!!” They both said.

They only managed to almost sever the demon’s right hand from his arm. “Heal,” the demon stated. The wrist put itself back together.

“Damn it! What’s going on?” Yuno questioned. He had his Mana zone armor on while Asta had turned part demon.

“He can do that?!” The Black Bull asked no one.

The demon chuckled. “How interesting. Having the power of a spirit, and being loved by mana, the power of a meddlesome comrade who dwells within the five-leafed grimoire That I should have possessed. I don’t know where you came from, but you may have that grimoire.” 

“Asta! Yuno!” Arashi called as she flew up to them with storm cloud wings.

“Arashi,” Asta recognized.

“What happened?” Akabane questioned.

“One of the elves stole the magic stone off of my n closer and placed it over there,” Yuno stated, pointing to an engraved magic circle. “Then, _that_ appeared.” He meant the demon.

“I see,” Arashi said. She then gasped as she saw the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun had been impaled for multiple times. “Wait, is that?”

“Technically, it’s not,” Yuno answered. “I’m not sure how, but that is the body of Captain Vangeance. I heard one of the elves call him Patry, which means he might not actually be Licht.”

“No way, Seriously? How can you tell that that is Vangeance’s body?” The Dragon Slayer asked.

”I just can. I’m not sure why.”

”so then, could the version of Licht we encountered in the hideout be the real Licht?”

”it’s very likely.”

The demon addressed Arashi. “Ooo, the apprentice to a dragon. I thought that they would have died out by now.” He then smiled. Something about Patry’s four-leafed grimoire seemed off. “When the owner of a four-leaf grimoire is engulfed in deep despair, a five-leaf grimoire is born.” The clover on the golden grimoire that belonged to the elf, now turned black and grew a fifth leaf. “At last, I possess my body and my pitch-Black grimoire. I can rule over the current world as a demon with my true form and power!” The three floating magic knights’ eyes widened, and their teeth gritted. “Five hundred years ago, I succeeded in creating a grimoire of despair, but I was met with resistance in the very end. So this time, by using reincarnation magic, I mingled wicked thoughts with their souls, making it easier to steal their egos.”

 _“So he’s actually the one who reincarnated the elves?”_ Arashi thought.

“I wanted my stepping stones to do their job and allow themselves to be stepped on,” the demon went on. He chuckled again before grabbing the floating grimoire, turning its color from gold to brown. “For the sake of this moment, I have deceived, killed, and plundered. Mmm~. And oh, it was delightful!”

“You’re unforgivable,” Asta stated. “I’m not going to let you get away with that!!”

The demon chuckled again, bringing his hand to his chin. “Unfortunately, I’m not the one you have to deal with.” He went over to Patry and whispered in his ear. Then, the elf’s skin began to turn grey. Arashi gasped. “The final state of an elf who’s overflowing with malice…” Dark Patry broke out of the stones that impaled him. “A dark elf!”

“Demon light magic,” Dark Patry said. It was barely above a whisper. “Light sword of conviction.”

Arashi gasped louder as she tried to dodge and block the dark daggers. _“Dark light?”_ Akabane questioned herself. She had to flash-step to dodge most of these and use storm clouds as a shield; it worked most of the time. Once they stopped, she had three cuts.

“Asta! You alive!?” Asked Yuno. Arashi glanced over in their direction to see Yuno with one cut and Asta underneath a pile of rubble.

The ruble fell further to the ground, revealing the Black Bull. “Of course I am, Yuno, you jerk!!” He stopped talking, as if focusing on something. “What the heck is going on? I can’t read his ki at all.”

The demon again chuckled. “This is just a heartless, burned out shell now,” he said. “It’s merely casting scorched shadows of the spells in its grimoire. At least have some fun with it.” He then lifted up towards the exit. “Now, if you’ll excuse me… farewell.”

“Hold it, you bastard!” Asta yelled. He was about to go after him, but the dark elf got in the way. He slashed at the teen, sending him flying to the other side of the room. They clashed swords as Asta moved upwards. With a powerful swing from the dark elf, Asta skitted to the side.

“Storm dragon slayer Magic,” Akabane began to conjure.

A blast of mana stopped Patry in his tracks. He then turned to see that it was Yuno who fired it. The dark elf moved to attack the teen, but he made a gigantic tornado to block him in. It was quickly dispersed by the dark elf.

“Storm Dragon’s Roar!!!” Arashi shouted, releasing a huge beam of concentrated storms.

It seemed like it hit the elf, as the blast drove him backwards, but it was soon cut in half, destroying the wall behind him. Next, the elf unleashed a giant whip of dark light. Arashi and Yuno both had to dodge it.

Blasts of dark light were fired at the mages as they flew away from the whip. 

“Storm Dragon Slayer Magic.” Tired of running, Arashi flash-stepped behind him. “Blitz claws!” She fired the crescent shaped lighting at the dark elf. The dark light blasts intersected them.

Asta took that moment to attack. The blasts stopped as the elf created a dark blade. The two clashed swords again. 

Yuno aimed his wind arrows at the elf, who dodged all of them. Dark Patry teleported behind the member of the Golden Dawn, ready to slash at him. The wind mage turned and tried to block the blow with a shield. It broke upon contact with the sword, sending shock waves of mana outward and blowing Yuno back.

“Yuno!” Asta shouted as he saw his friend fall.

“Mana zone,” Yuno cast. A portal appeared behind the elf. “Spirit storm!” A blast of mana was cast from the portal behind the elf.

With a large sword, the elf blocked it, although he was being pushed down by the blast, right in the direction of Asta. He teleported, disappearing with the giant sword and reappearing near Asta with a smaller sword. They clashed. The mana blast crashed into the ground.

“Move damn it,” Asta said to him. He was trying to reason with the dark elf. “You probably can’t forgive me because I’m a human, and I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done, either. But I know, we should’ve been able to understand each other!! I’m begging you! Move!”

Surprisingly, the dark elf moved off of him. Now, the Bulls and Dawn stood next to each other while the Lion King floated opposite them. 

“Hate!” All of a sudden, his aura glowed purple. It was at that moment Arashi knew, they were screwed.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun dun~


	15. Shadow Palace part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back with another chapter yay!!!

_“This is… so much magic!”_ Arashi thought as she flew in place.

“Demon light magic: Ray of Divine Punishment.” The dark elf cast at Asta. A huge dark beam came at the Bull who kept it mostly at bay with his sword. 

Yuno and Arashi glanced at each other as they went to help him. Together, the trio pushed back the beam of dark light. It crashed into the wall near the dark elf.

“We somehow made it through,” Asta stated. Then, his anti-magic form started to fade. 

“Asta!” Before the boy started to fall, Yuno caught him with his wind.

“Thank you, Yuno.”

“Man, That was close,” Arashi remarked. The three stayed flying in the air.

“He should have used up most of his mana with that spell,” Yuno considered.

“Hate,” Dark Patry muttered. He repeated it twice more, getting louder both times. Then, “I hate you!” His mana increased.

Their eyes widened. “You can’t be serious,” Yuno stated.

“That sinister magic just keeps welling up,” the Dragon Slayer stated.

“I can’t lose here!” Yuno called out.

The dark elf fired the same dark beam as he did prior. Just before it hit the trio, something metallic shielded them.

The Captain of the Silver Eagles stood right in front of them. “It seems your appearance has changed a bit,” he said. “But we meet at last.” The metal liquified and went away.

“Captain Nozel,” Yuno and Arashi recognized. The silver-haired man stayed facing forward.

“I am nowhere near as lenient as him!” The captain went on, meaning Fuegoleon.

Dark shards appeared as the elf muttered hate multiple times.

“You cannot defeat me,” Nozel told him. The dark shards were launched at the captain. “My Magic’s affinity with your light magic is better than anyone else’s.” With his mercury magic, he created shields and blocked each of the dark daggers. “Though I don’t plan on losing to the one I have the worst affinity with, either.” Spears formed from the liquid mercury. “And I have been sharpening my skills for this moment, too.” The spears launched themselves at the elf, breaking any dark shards they came in contact with, and following the elf as he dodged.

“I see you like to scurry away like the vermin you are, but,” Nozel went on. “The preparations are complete.” Mercury had come to almost every part of the room. “Since this spell requires maximum control and power, I couldn’t use it in the last battle because my magic was being disturbed.” The mercury surrounded the dark elf, like a spherical cage. The captain floated inside it.

“Mercury Creation Magic: Silver Star of Execution.” 

Just as the elf created dark shards to destroy the cage with, Nozel explained, “This spell will trap you and your light magic while continuously attacking. It’s an inescapable prison.”

The two of them started to battle in the cage until finally, the captain placed mercury around him. The daggers bounced off and hit their sender.

“He deflected all of the attacks,” Yuno stated, amazed. “He has such precise control.” The liquid metal solidified itself, encasing Patry’s body.

“Asta, Arashi, and Yuno, is it not?” Nozel asked them as he went back to them. He faced them and said Cooley, “I am the one who will become the Wizard King.”

“Then I guess you’re my rival, too!” Asta said to him.

“I’m going to become the Wizard King,” told Yuno.

 _“Boys,”_ Arashi resisted the urge to hold the bridge of her nose and alternatively roll her eyes as the younger magic knights started to argue over who it would be.

The Dragon Slayer’s eyes wandered over to the elf who lay almost lifeless on the ground. She felt a strange sort of pity towards him. So, the mage went down and healed him.

“Why?” The elf asked weakly. There was something odd and familiar about him.

“I don’t need a reason to save someone who’s on the brink of death,” Arashi told him. “It doesn’t really matter to me if you are the enemy. It’s a strange thing for someone like me to say, but that is my truth… oh, and despite my power level, I’m not a noble.” She brought him closer to the group. Another reason for healing him was so that he could help them with that demon, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud. She’s not that kind of person. As she healed him, she overheard Nozel and the boys argue over whether or not to kill Patry. Yuno had just talked about the fact that the elf shares a body with the captain of the Golden Dawn.

She saw Asta get ready to slash something. Yuno pointed at him. If she were to guess, she’d say that Asta was about to tap the guy with his sword. Arashi watched as the Bull touched his sword to the elf wrapped in metal. Strange blackness spilled out like a vapper. It was now nearly starting to devour him.

“Asta!” Arashi and Yuno shouted. It felt like the whole world was silent for forever. Then all of a sudden, the darkness disappeared.

“Holy crap that was close!” Asta called out. 

The darkness on Patry’s skin was gone. He seemed to be normal again. “Honestly,” the elf said. “I’ve never met such a foolish human before.” That made Arashi smile. Then she noticed the difference in his eyes. One was black while the other was normal.

The Black Bull took offense. “What did you say you jerk?!”

A very strange and powerful magic was used somewhere in the palace. 

“What is this magic?” Patry questioned.

“I don’t know, but either way, I bet it’s that demon’s magic,” Arashi stated.

A few minutes later, it came down upon them like a substance akin to a sludge.

“That evil magic is headed our way!” Patry called out.

As three of them flew up to take a stab at it, Arashi moved back. For now, the patient’s life comes first before the want to slash at things. The two powerful mages and the elf all fired their magic at it, but to no avail.

“Don’t let it touch you!” Patry yelled. A price of the sludge had dropped onto him and burned his skin.

The strange purple magic was now making its way faster towards the ground. Knowing that a protective spell would do nothing, she made herself wings of storms, grabbed the patient and began to fly away. It was just as fast as her, however, and was almost about to touch her when Asta got in the way.

“Asta!” Arashi and Yuno shouted, fearing for their friend’s life. A few seconds later, he slashed out of the demon’s magic without a scratch.

“Whoo, I thought I was a goner,” Asta said, relieved.

“Okay, what the actual fuck,” The Dragon Slayer stated, before remembering she should try to be nicer. “I mean, heyyy Asta! Glad you’re okay!” Then realization struck. She flew black down to the ground, touching the floor. Unbenounced to her, she spoke her thoughts aloud as she reached into the void and felt the mana currents of the building. “The strange magic had come from directly above, which means that there’s most likely some form of a room up there. If that demon went through that way, then he could still be in here, fighting someone.” Her eyes widened. “The people in the other rooms could be in danger!” She shouted, now realizing that while she rambled, the mages and elf gathered around her.

“Saving the kingdom, and all of us escaping in one piece, will mean our victory.” Nozel said. “I’ll go assist the ones below. You’ll come with me Dragon Slayer.”

“Yes, sir,” she complied. She then went to create a storm figure using her Storm creation magic. This magic allowed for her to pass along messages without it actually being her who tells them. Arashi told the figure to find the humans and tell them what’s going on as well as how to get out. As that happened, Nozel continued to speak.

“You appear to understand the enemy and what’s going on up above better than I do,” the captain of the Silver Eagles went on, turning to the other three. “If you supplement Asta’s anti-magic with Yuno’s spirit magic, and that elf’s light magic, you should make it to the battlefield. Go.”

“Yes, sir!” Asta stated enthusiastically. 

—————

As they flew through the cavern, Arashi couldn’t help but think back to Easifa. She is over 600 years old now. The dragon knows all about the incident. After all, (as Arashi later figured out) her apprentice at that time was an elf. It was only now that the current Dragon Slayer remembered all of the details of the tale.

_500 years ago, the elves and the humans existed together, though not in any way of complete understanding, not at all. Then, these two humans came along. True royalty from the Clover Kingdom. Then, they came over more and more until the sister and the leader of the Elves, Licht were about to marry. Easifa says “about to” because the “humans” attacked and killed them before they could tie the knot. They even used the magical item that the prince’s servant had created to steal the elves’ magic. It was supposed to be a tool for sharing magical power._

_Although, they weren’t humans, not really. They were being possessed by a demon. The core of their feelings towards the elves awakened, and they attacked. The human prince, Lumiere, along with his servant, Secré, came to the wedding to warn the elves of what the two of them couldn’t stop, but they were too late. The destruction had already taken place._

_Licht became distraught and filled with negative mana, but he soon realized that the prince was not at fault. The demon that had possessed the humans now wanted to possess Licht as well. The elf then absorbed even more negative mana with the help of the magic stones (the ones that the magic knights and the Eye of the Midnight Sun have been battling for) and became this giant monster. His last wish was for Lumiere to kill him._

_The creature unleashed immense destruction upon the kingdom, the destruction from the legend everyone in this time knows. The prince indeed fought him, and eventually won, becoming the Wizard King. That’s the version that everyone knows._

_However, the prince’s servant had the idea of using her magical item. The prince used it to absorb the evil magic. It absorbed all it could before breaking. Then, the creature stopped. Licht had regained a sense of his humanity and told the prince that this was his chance. Lumiere took it, and killed him, creating the giant pile of bones that sat just outside what is now Hage village. He was named their savior, the Wizard King._

_Secré collected the elven jewels. Licht’s grimoire turned black. Before the demon could do anything with the blackened grimoire, she sealed him away using confinement magic, not caring for the effects of using the forbidden magic. But then, the demon used the magic stones she had collected to cast the forbidden reincarnation spell of the elves before he disappeared in his confinement._

_The prince was dying. He had lost so much blood. So, in an effort to save him, and the future, she sealed him away using the magic stones, making him a statue. This was also forbidden magic. Because she had used so much of it, she turned into an anti-bird._

_The humans went on never knowing that that monster were the elves, or even their leader, Licht. Nobody knew that the magic jewels in existence today were elf-made. But Easifa, a dragon who had come from far to escape persecution, knew. So she settled in a cave near the pile of bones to keep watch._

—————

All of a sudden, Arashi felt a strange magical increase. The signature was that of an elf, and a human’s. The elf was definitely Licht, but the human, who was he? His mana surpasses Julius’. 

Nozel and Arashi Easter no time in collecting everyone they could. Albeit most of them were unconscious elves that they had defeated prior.

All of a sudden, their bodies glowed. It was as if their power was being borrowed for some huge spell.

“Licht,” the elf Arashi was healing said weakly. From the mana currents of the building, the Dragon Slayer could tell that the borrowed magical powers were all converging to one spot. The spot where Licht, Patry, Yuno, Asta, and two others were currently fighting the demon.

Then, that magic was released into a very powerful spell. The demon’s signature began to fade.


	16. Escaping the Shadow Palace

The demon’s signature began to fade, sure, but it wasn’t gone. If anything, he was only weakened a little bit. That’s when Arashi felt Yuno’s magic increase. Next, something strange happened to the demon. The Dragon slayer squinted her eyes.

Then, that strange purple magic found its way to them. “Shit,” Arashi cursed. “Hey, Captain-”

“I see it,” Nozel interrupted her. 

“Storm Dragon Slayer Magic: Storm Dragon’s Roar!” She cast the beam of storms at the sludge. There was little to no effect. “Damn it.”

“You know,” said the injured elf Arashi was treating. “That magic reminds me of someone.”

“Let me guess, there was an elf with the same kind of magic?” she caught on.

“You’re smart. Where is she anyway?”

“Easifa, the storm dragon got rid of her.” She answered that with no emotion in her voice. “ _ So my suspicion was correct,”  _ she thought. “ _ Which would mean that Easifa killed her without even saying anything about it?! Maybe seeing her was enough? Or did she talk to her while she was still in my subconscious? Okay, wait, that almost doesn’t make sense.” _

“I see.”

“By the way, I never got your name. I’m Arashi.”

“Raia.” He said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Raia.”

“Hey!” came a familiar voice. Nozel made the mercury they were sitting on stop. The Dragon Slayer stood.

“Big brother!” She waved at him. The weapon mage hopped onto the floating piece of Mercury.

“Where is everyone else?” he questioned

“Not sure, but Noelle’s closeby, I can feel it.”

They went in that direction, almost beating the purple sludge to her. Nozel hit the fire mage she was fighting with his magic. The captain of the praying mantis, Jack the Ripper, was also there.

“Nozel! Arashi! And Karma!” Noelle sounded surprised that they were even there.

“This place is about to be flooded with inhuman magic!” Nozel informed. “Evacuate immediately, all of you!”

All of a sudden, Mereoleona appeared and started punching the sludge with fire fists. She laughed that insane laugh of hers. “To think magic like this even existed, the world is certainly vast!”

Without a word, Nozel’s magic grabbed hold of Mereoleona and Jack the Ripper. All of a sudden, they were surrounded by this strange light.

“What is this?” Noelle questioned.

“This is Licht and your prince’s magic,” Raia said.

“Prince?” both the dragon slayer and Noelle questioned.

“My connection with Licht shows me what’s going on up above,” the elf informed the group. “Looks like the prince got to have a touching reunion.” He laughed lightly. “It’s making me jealous.”

Arashi and Karma gasped then looked at each other. “So I take it you felt what I saw?” Arashi’s patient questioned. The siblings confirmed.

Then again they gasped. “That was-” “Yami-taicho.” The sibling stated out loud, astounded.

“Just how the hell can you both sense stuff like that?” Noelle questioned, annoyed. 

“Well, you may be royal, but that doesn’t mean you can sense things as accurately and as great as a dragon,” Arashi told her. “Although, our parents were always great at that as well.”

“Tch, yet another thing we’ve gotten from dear old dad,” Karma deadpanned.

Then, the demon’s magic disappeared completely. Arashi giggled slightly and smiled, glancing above her as if she saw right through the wall. “They did it.”

“Wait seriously?!” Noelle questioned.

“That demon’s presence is gone,” Karma inputted.

“Not just his presence but his entire being,” Arashi’s patient told them.

All of a sudden, the walls started to crumble.

“We have to get out of here,” Arashi stated.

They all sped towards the exit. “My connection with Licht is telling me the exit’s on the top floor,” the pink haired elf stated. “Hurry!”

Their speed increased. All of a sudden, the light disappeared, and they were suddenly engulfed in the demon’s magic. Then a strange spatial magic engulfed them. They were all dumped near Asta. Noelle and the no-mag collided. She yelled at him for it.

Then, the spatial mage made himself known. It was the one from before when the capital was attacked by the undead. The necromancer was there too. Asta and him got into an argument.

Arashi groaned, already wanting to leave even more than she already did. Then all of a sudden, Yami burst through with the elf version of the Captain of the Blue Rose Knights and two others. One of them looked to be the former captain of the purple orcas.

Asta recognized the last one as the guy who he stole his grimoire from.

She finally started to actually pay attention when the first Wizard King said, “Some many different people with all kinds of magic! The kingdom is in good hands.”

“Anyway, we gotta get the heck out of here!” Asta yelled.

Somehow, the door opened up on its own. Everyone went through. When they got out, they saw the destruction that had befallen the kingdom. The elves out here were still overtaken by their hatred towards the humans.

“How in the world are we going to deal with that many of them?” Noelle questioned.

“Let’s just knock them all out,” Mereoleona suggested.

“With Licht here, there’s a way,” Patry informed the group. He touched his chest. “With the world tree magic that William has, the mage who’s currently asleep inside of me, we can gather the magic and life force from people all over the kingdom. But for all that, we’ll need his grimoire.”

The spatial mage showed up with a grimoire. “Take this,” he told him.

The elf took it. “That’s William’s… Thank you, Valtos.”

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Valtos told him. “You’re still the one who saved me that day.”

Asta realized what he had to do. “Wait, do you-”

“Yes,” replied Patry. “Asta, use your Demon-Destroyer Sword to undo my reincarnation.”

“You sure about this?” the village boy asked as he raised his sword.

Patry placed his hand on the sword as it was placed near his heart. “This has always been my second life,” he told him. “I may have some regrets, but no fear. If I’m just going to disappear after this, I almost think that’s not enough for atonement.”

“Patry,” Arashi’s patient stated, concerned.

The leader of the Midnight Sun turned to them with a smile. “I’m gonna head out first. I’m sorry, Licht. You’ll have to take care of the rest.”

“I will,” the leader of the elves told him.

Patry turned back to Asta and nodded at him, who nodded back. A dark red circle appeared around him, then it disappeared. Then so did Patry, leaving behind Vangeance.

“Captain Vangeance,” Yuno said gently.

The captain tugged at the clothes on his body saying, “Patry…” wordlessly, he started a world tree. The branches reached out to everyone down below. Licht placed one hand on his shoulder while the other held a sword up to the sky. It glowed a bright white which reached to every single elf on the ground. The tree grew fully and glowed as bright as the sword. Together, they lured the elves to the world tree. Soon, they were all engulfed in the branches.

“Anti-magic boy,” said Licht. “Use the demon-Destroyer Sword on this tree.”

Asta nodded and stabbed the giant plant. It turned black.

The souls of the elves could be seen leaving the bodies of the magic knights. 

“Thought as much,” said Raia. Neither he nor the other two standing next to him were glowing, unlike Licht.. “Looks like the three of us won’t be able to go with you. Our souls are bound to these bodies after our second reincarnation, so our souls don’t belong to our original bodies anymore.”

“I see,” stated Licht. “That makes things a little lonely. I wanted to talk to you about this long journey filled with pain and hatred. But there might be a good reason for this. Please continue to live in the world for our sakes, too.” The red markings on Licht’s face began to fade.

“Licht.” “See you later.” The other two said. Raia yawned while rubbing the back of his neck. “Guess we’re passing each other by again. Like I have a choice if this is your request, Licht.” his hand fell. “It’ll be a pain, but I’ll just have to live this life to the fullest, I guess.”

The elf inhabiting Captain Charlotte’s body left as well, saying a farewell to Yami.

“I should go ahead,” Licht said to Wizard King Lumiere. “I’ve kept Teyia waiting all this time.” Tetia is Lumiere’s dead sister. “I’m glad we got to see a glimpse of the ideal future that we’d hoped for.”

“The one that’s leaving my body,” said Yuno, bringing Licht’s attention towards him. “Is he your…”

“Thanks to you, it felt like I got to fight alongside my son. Thank you, the current owner of the four-leaf grimoire. May luck be with you.”

Somehow, Asta felt compelled to hand the elf his old grimoire. “This grimoire,” he said. “It’s yours.”

“That grimoire belongs to you now.” This response shocked the boy. “Please, let it accompany you on your journey.” And with that, the elven spirit was gone. They all floated upwards before fading away. The tree too disappeared. It looked as if tiny little glowing green leaves were being swept away by the wind.

All of a sudden, the necromancer used a spell that placed magic back into Licht’s body and placed Patry in it. “Is this… reincarnation?” Patry asked as he studied his hands. “No… reanimation?”

“That body was a copy of yours that Sally made, anyway,” the necromancer stated. “I’m sure you’ll feel right at home in it.”

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?!” Asta half-yelled at the necromancer.

“Shut up, shut up! I… I… don’t really get it either damn it!”

Arashi resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose.

“Anyway,” he continued speaking, looking at Patry’s saddened face. “I’m not gonna let you just disappear and have a happily ever after! I’m never going to forgive you!”

“You selfish bastard,” Arashi couldn’t stop herself from commenting.

He went on yelling as if she never said a thing. “You get to keep thinking about all those humans you trampled… including me!”

“Uh…” Asta gathered. “I’m pretty sure that’s gonna come back to bite you in the butt.”

“Shut up!” the necromancer yelled.

“Rades… should I thank you?” Patry asked him. Arashi’s eyes widened. “You’ve given me the opportunity to atone.”

“Shut up!” Arashi didn’t bother paying attention to Rades’ little speech about killing Patry one day. Like a spoiled, selfish, and entitled brat he then said, “Let’s go, Valtos.” Without another word, the two of them left through portals.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Raia stated. “So in the end, you didn’t even get to go back with Licht. You’re such a pain in the ass. Talk about just deserts.”

“Raia-,” as he stepped closer to him, he almost fell forward. Luckily, Vangeance caught him.

“To think the day would come where I could actually touch you,” William stated.

“William…”

“My closest friend, who shares my sin. There was so much that I wanted to tell you, and yet…” he pushed the elf up. “More importantly, there’s someone I need to apologize to right now, even though he may not forgive me.” He then turned to Captain Yami. “I know this is a selfish request. I’m sorry, Yami, but please take me to Master Julius.”

_ “That’s right,” _ Arashi thought.  _ “I haven’t felt the Wizard King’s presence since after the Selection exam.” _

Most of the others left to help with the clean up process. Meanwhile, Asta was hurting all over. “Ow, ow, ow, ow! Everything’s been hurting this whole… Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

“Honestly Bakasta,” Arashi stated as she stepped towards him. “How the hell are you still alive right now.” She then began healing him.

“Will you stop calling me that?” he tried to turn his head to her but just ended up hurting himself even more. “Owowowowowow. You know, I get the feeling that whatever that word means is hurtful owowowowowow.” Arashi lightly punched him in the arm. “Wh-what was that for?!”

“Do you want me to heal you or not?” The dragon slayer enunciated. 

“Yes please.”

“Then don’t move, and stop whining about your pain.”

“That’s what you get for being reckless all the time,” Noelle chimed in. Her arms were crossed. “Deal with it.”

“I cannot thank you enough, everyone,” the first Wizard King stated. “The devil’s spell that had been cast in my time has finally been lifted.”

“Wait a minute, who are those people,” Noelle whispered to Arashi. She meant The first Wizard King and his servant. The dragon slayer realized that this is her first time seeing them.

“The boy is the first Wizard King, and the girl is his servant,” Arashi whispered to the royal.

“What!?” Noelle started freaking out.

Just as Asta started geeking out about both of them, Arashi smacked him upside the head. “Didn’t I tell you to be quiet? And stay still. I’m almost done.” Despite what she said, Asta kept talking, although he didn’t move. Secre pinched his cheek.

“To me, ‘Wizard King is just a phrase,” Lumiere stated. “But thanks to you and your childhood friends, I now know that our ideals have been carried down to this era as well. Now… I wonder which one of you will become the Wizard King.”

“It’s me, sir!” Asta stated eagerly.

“You and the prince are nothing alike, Asta,” Noelle pointed out.

“What?!” The non-magic boy seemed to take offense, making Lumiere chuckle a bit.

Then, the Prince’s stone-like skin started to crack. “I guess it’s time,” he said. “I don’t have the magic to keep this body together anymore.” The four others standing on the metal pillar gasped.

Arashi’s magic can’t heal that. She knows this.

“My Prince,” Cecré said sadly. 

“Secré,” Lumiere addressed. “Though I guess you might be Nero now. Will you watch their futures and ideals play out for me, as well?”

“Prince Lumiere! I’ve always… if you’re going, then I’m going too!”

“I gave everything I had 500 years ago, and my life was supposed to end back then. But thanks to you, I was able to protect the future. That’s more than enough. I don’t want you to close off your own potential. I’m looking forward to futures beyond this one. Both of the magic knights, and the Clover Kingdom you’ll defend. I was able to meet my own descendants too.” His face cracked even more. A small piece of his cheek fell to the ground. “I couldn’t be more satisfied.”

Nero began to cry. “I… the fact that I got to serve you for all this time… made me happy.” They joined hands.

Other tiny little pieces of him flew away in the wind. “And I was happy too. Five hundred years… thanks you so much for waiting for me for 500 years, Secré.” He now completely crumbled apart, flying away in the wind.

They stayed up there in a moment of silence before Arashi took them down. It’s been a long night. So long that Arashi almost didn’t notice the sun rising. Although, she had a feeling that today would be a long day.


	17. In the Aftermath

For some reason, Asta, Noelle, Cecré, and Arashi were called upon to see the current Wizard King. Somehow, he had shrunk and become younger. If Arashi had to guess she’d say that he was in his tweens or early teens now. Yami stood behind him to his right, smoking.

“All of you have worked so hard,” young Julius told them. “The battle has ended, and now we can live happily ever after.”

Arashi wished that were true. There’ll always be bandits, and soldiers from the surrounding countries to worry about. So while this battle may be over, another one could very well be just around the corner.

“Or so I’d like to say,” Julius went on. “But currently we have three problems.”

“Uh, Captain Yami! This ki… don’t tell me he’s..”

 _“He’s just now figured that out?”_ Arashi questioned in her mind.

“Problem number one,” Julius stated as he held up his left pointer finger. “The Wizard King is gone.”

“He’s standing right here. That’s you, remember?” Yami tried to remind him.

“What?!” “Seriously?!” “Eh?!” Arashi chuckled at the other’s confusion.

“Most of my Magic is gone,” the little king told them. He held up a page. “This is all that’s left of my grimoire, which means I won’t be able to fight, and my influence on the hard-line monarchist nobles who prioritize the wealth and power of this kingdom have been weakened.”

“Oh, me! Me me me!” Asta wanted to speak, or more accurately ask something that will probably come out as strung together anyways, so he raised his hand. “How did you get so small, and why are you alive, Wizard King!?”

Julius chuckled. “Well, you see, during my incognito wanderings, I found magic storage technology left behind by some ancient mages. According to some documents I found, it’s called Swallowtail.” Cecré gasped. Perhaps that was the machine she created in order for someone to share magic. “My time magic and Swallowtail were very compatible. I stored my time and magic into the emblem on my forehead little by little.” He pointed to where the blue star mark on his forehead is supposed to be. Time that would let me start over in case something happened to me. But I didn’t get to start over immediately, and I only made it as far as this age. Guess things don’t always go as planned. 

“Uh, this is plenty,” Yami chimed in. He looked dead inside. “You don’t usually get do-overs in life. You’re insane, you old man who looks like a kid.” Rumor has it that the Wizard King is actually 42, although now he looks to be 13 or so.

Asta looked as if he was about to cry. “I’m just really glad you’re alive, Wizard King!”

Julius smiled. “Thank you. I see that you’re as lively as ever, Asta. I heard you did a great job, yet again.”

“I did my best but there’s still a long way to go!” The boy’s tears quickly turned into determination.

“As for Noelle and Arashi. I can imagine how much you have risked your own lives in this endeavor just by how much your mana has grown.” They both saluted him. “As for our guest that I don’t recognize…” quickly he went over to her all starry-eyed and in geek mode. “What kind of magic do you use?! My many years of incognito wandering tell me you definitely use some unique kind of magic!”

Yami actually picked the boy up by the collar of the long cape, telling him, “Heah, yeah. Get on with your explanation already. We need to hurry out there and help the others.”

The wizard king laughed and scratched his head. “Sorry about that.”

“I see the Wizard King hasn’t changed,” noted Secré.

“He sure hasn’t,” Noelle agreed.

“He’s definitely the same,” Arashi stated.

“So what’s the remaining two of these three problems?” Yami questioned, getting him back onto the subject.

“I’m trying to keep those two secret as much as possible,” the young King admitted. He then held up two fingers. “But I predict that at this rate, the Clover Kingdom will be destroyed by the surrounding countries.”

“You mean…” “The Diamond Kingdom and the other ones?!” Asta finished Noelle’s sentence.

Now, young Julius held up a third finger and said, “Or Asta dies.”

“What?!” The three knights and Secré chorused.

Asta started to freak out. “Wait, why is it either the Clover Kingdom going to be destroyed or I just die?!”

“It could even be both,” Julius went on. 

“His predictions are pretty spot-on, too,” Yami stated. “Sucks to be you, kid.” He then had his right arm cross his chest with his hand stiff and going up. “ **Namu.”**

“Why are we going forward with me dying?!” Asta’s voice was almost whiny and high pitched; then it returned to normal. “What the heck is going on, Wizard King?!”

Yami relaxed as Julius explained, “Asta, a devil is the source of your black power.”

“A-a devil?” Noelle questioned.

“Just like that creepy black guy?” Asta asked.

Arashi sighed and said simply, “Figured as much.”

“What do you mean?!” Asta freaked out.

“Oh, come on, Asta.” The dragon gave him a glare. “The first three clovers represent hope, love and peace, while the fourth is attributed to luck. In five-leafed clovers, however, there resides the powers of demons.”

“You actually believe in that superstitious stuff?”

”It isn’t all that superstitious, Asta, I mean it’s got truth to it, doesn’t it?”

”Okay, sure but-“

“Is your body okay, using powers like that?” Noelle asked the no-mag, cutting him off.

“I’m totally fine!” said the Bull. “Though my whole body hurts like hell afterwards!”

“That’s not classified as fine, Bakasta,” Arashi told him.

“Will you stop calling me that?!” 

“A devil?” questioned Yami with very little emotion. “Wow, talk about creepy. Gross.” He raised his hand with two fingers intertwined. “Back off, man.”

“Captain Yami! You don’t know how much your words can hurt people sometimes!” The blonde bull whined.

Julius pointed at Asta. “Your black horn is proof that humans ventured into a forbidden realm and involved themselves in a world beyond this one. It’s a curse known as Weg. There appear to be other magic knights with similar curses.”

“Other than me?” Asta’s voice was shaky.

“Oh, yeah,” Arashi thought out loud. “There’s Vangeance, and I think Captain Charlotte’s cursed too… and then there’s me, but I don’t have a demon’s curse, but that’s besides the point.” She remembered that time she was put in memory lane by that curse mage.

“Wait, you're cursed?!” Asta shouted.

“Yeah. It’s a weird one too, nightmarish, even, but I don’t have to discuss it with you.”

“Well, actually, Arashi,” Julius stated. “You just might.”

The Dragon Slayer tried not to roll her eyes as she stated, “Fine then.”

“Hold on, back up. A world beyond ours?” Noelle questioned.

“I don’t have all the details,” answered Julius, “But it’s said that the devils live there.” 

Cecré activated her grimoire while saying, “And the five-leaf grimoire that one devil failed to obtain,” the pages stopped flipping. “Has another devil inhabiting it.”

“You’re-“ Julius tried to figure out who Cecré was.

“Five hundred years ago, I fell under the curse of forbidden magic in order to seal the devil,” Cecré explained. A blue plume of smoke engulfed her. When it disappeared, she had turned into an anti-bird. The bird landed on Asta’s head. She could talk in this form too. “The curse and my magic mingled, and this happened. I can switch forms as I choose.”

The king geeked out again. He got closer to the bird. “That’s amazing! This seems different from transformation magic! So you’re sealing yourself into the form of a bird? To think the penalty for forbidden magic would overlap with unusual magic to produce a result like this. Ancient magic is truest fascinating!”

“Uh, so Wizard King, what’s this about m-me dying?!” Asta asked anxiously. He then held his head as ideas ran wild. “Is the devil going to explode or something?!”

This killed Julius’ geek mood. “Ah, sorry about that. First, there are three kingdoms surrounding the Clover Kingdom. There’s diamond, an aggressor kingdom with a powerful army thanks to their magic scholars, and has no problem with experimenting on humans. Heart, is an unseen neutral kingdom of mystery that takes in and uses its abundant natural mana, perfecting its own unique magic. And then there’s the Spade Kingdom. A kingdom of winter, mysteries, and demons that is served by the ancient evils that sleep in its vast, frigid land, and is attempting to gain supremacy. Like Diamond, our immediate neighbor, the spade kingdom is attempting to extend its influence across the strong magic region that separates us. But currently, the Magic Knights that defend our kingdom have grown exhausted like never before.”

“Not only that, but some turned against us, even if for a moment, because of the reincarnations. That currently puts them on shaky ground,” Yami inputted. “Not to mention what Julius looks like right now.”

“Wait wait wait wait wait,” said Asta. “It wasn’t any of their faults, though! They were taken over by elves! Or rather it was because of that “Hur hur hur” devil guy! Whoa! Which means we need people to know that they were just being manipulated by that devil!”

“Exactly,” stated Julius. “And so the Magic Parliament will probably put the power of your devil on trial to find it guilty.” Asta’s eyes widened. “After all, a peasant who uses the powers of an unknown devil as you do is a perfect scapegoat to take the fall for everyone.”

“No way! But I haven’t done anything wrong! What the heck’s this magic parliament anyway?!” At that Arashi pinched the bridge of her nose. She thought the answer to that question was quite obvious.

“You seriously don’t know about that?” Noelle questioned her squad mate. “The Magic Parliament is made up of royalty and nobles who create laws and conduct trials for significant crimes. They are one of the highest authorities in this kingdom.”

“And one of the three great royal families stand at its center,” Julius chimed in.

“The house of Kira,” Noelle recognized.

“The current King’s royal family, which has the most authority,” the Wizard King continued speaking. “You all may leave now. I have something important to discuss with Arashi.”

—————

It’s been several days since then. Everyone is helping out in any way they can with rebuilding the capital. The leaders of such a task were none other than Fuegoleon and Nozel. The Black Bulls were handing out food.

Arashi’s been helping out with the relief effort, but she’s also been a spy for King Julius in the Parliament. She used her mist magic to conceal herself and her mana to watch things. Unexpectedly, today was Asta and Cecré’s trial. As Arashi expected, it wasn’t going well. He is after all their scapegoat. They were about to execute a little girl on the charges of betraying the kingdom. Arashi recognized her as Gouch’s little sister. 

Having been watching the entire thing, Arashi was about to call in her captain and Captain Nozel. That is, until the Black Bulls basically attacked the Parliament Court House building to get Asta and Cecré back. It was then that Arashi drew the line. It wouldn’t have mattered if she interrupted them. They might actually convict her for being in league with the devil they accused Asta of being. The Crimson Lion knew it would be more powerful and more effective if captains intervened. 

She knew that both captain Fuegoleon and Nozel were discussing things with Julius. After all, he was giving them a mission order to be delivered. 

The Dragon Slayer spoke to them via comms. “Wizard King, Captains, this is Arashi,” she addressed. “The trial was moved to today. Asta’s gone demon mode and Captain Yami and the rest of the Bulls have just attacked the Parliament. I’m worried that things will get really escalated from there.”

“I’ll send them over, thank you, Arashi,” Julius stated.

The Dragon Slayer watched silently as the Black Bulls stood up for Asta and Cecré in an effort to get the two of them to go with the others. They even made Cecré a Bull.

As Yami was about to slash at the Judge (a member of the house of Kira) Nozel stood in front of Yami while Fuegoleon stood in front of the Kira House member. Both of their magic keep the other one from attacking.

Murmurs erupted from the nobles in the crowd.

“You’re as reckless as ever, foreigner,” Nozel told Yami. “What were you planning to do after this?”

“Eh, I just got a little worked up,” admitted Yami.

“Though it appears you meant to miss.”

“Honestly,” said Fuegoleon. “Even if this was for your squad members, you couldn’t make a worse impression.” He turned his head to the captain. “Though thanks to that, we made it in time. 

“What the hell is that big dragon?!” Yami questioned. “You really did power up when you came back!”

“Captain Fuegoleon… and Captain Nozel… why?” Asta asked them.

Nozel turned to him and said, “We can’t afford to lose any capable Magic Knights.”

“In other words,” Fuegoleon stated. “The people who acknowledge you aren’t limited to any rank or class.” Their magic disappeared.

“Nozel! Captain Fuegoleon!” Noelle greeted.

Murmurs erupted from the crowd again. “What are you going to do now?” Damnatio Kira questioned.

The leader of the House of Vermillion held up a rolled paper. “We have a mission from the wizard king,” stated the Captain of the Crimson Lions. He opened it like a scroll. “The Magic Knight squad Black Bulls is tasked with locating and investigating the devils.” He then addressed the Bulls. “Prove your innocence with your own hands.”

“While Asta is on this mission,” Nozel added. “The Wizard King and Magic Knights will take full responsibility for him.” 

Asta’s demon powers went away as he said, “So, Uh, er… Wait, what does that mean?”

Yami went up to him and grabbed his head. “We’re gonna go investigate the devils so we can clear that name of yours! And break the curse of the forbidden magic, too.”

Once again murmurs erupted from the crowd of nobles.

“Apparently, I weighed the trust people have in you too lightly,” Kira stated. He still held onto the scale. “But know that you’ll be executed immediately if you prove to have no use to the kingdom. You’re still hanging in the balance.” With that, he walked out of the room. 

The captains gave Asta a bracelet to track him before the Bulls semi celebrated. Fuegoleon didn’t need to tell Arashi that she should go to the Wizard King. She knew. The dragon slayer slipped out without anyone noticing.

__________

When she arrived at his castle, she gave him the report. She was about to leave when the king noticed that she wasn’t just carrying her grimoire in the pouch on her belt, but there was another book in there too.

“Arashi, what is that other book you’re carrying?”

“Hmm?” She turned to him before looking down at her pouch. She brought the other book out. “Oh, this is just my sketchbook. It was one of the first things I bought from the money I earned in being a Magic Knight.”

“May I?” His hands were outstretched, signifying that he wanted to look at her drawings.

“Sure.” She handed the book to him, unsure of how he’ll view her drawings. The mage watched as he developed the same starry eyed look as if he was viewing some new magic. 

He passed the secret sketches of her squad mates in various poses (likely taken of them live when they weren’t looking) and stopped at the drawing of Easifa. “Whoa, is this the dragon that trained you~? This is so cool!”

“Yes it is,” she told him. “Her name is Easifa.”

“Cool~.”

He flipped through the various drawings of flowers she found in the garden and entered the poetry section. “Ah, I see you are a poet as well.” He stopped at one in particular that spoke about the tale of Conrad. “Uh, what is the tale of Conrad?”

“The tale of Conrad is about an officer who breaches a ship he believes may or may not be an enemy vessel. The captain of the breached ship says he’s just a lost merchant ship. The officer isn’t sure if he believes him or not. But then assures himself that the captain of the breached ship is lying, because of a menacing stare he gave him. In the end, the officer decides to test the breached ship, he sends the captain and his ship on a dangerous course. The course he sends him on will surely send him to his death, because of harsh conditions and treacherous waters. Now if the captain of the breached ship was lying, and really knew the waters, he would not go on that course. But he didn’t know. So he went and sure enough his ship sank. So, the breached ship was indeed a merchant ship, and its captain was innocent all along.” The Dragon Slayer looked out the window to see that the sun was just starting to set

“I see.” Julius had sat down and taken a sip of his tea.

“In this poem,” her eyes moved from looking at Julius to a different part of the room repeatedly. “A woman speaks about someone being a boat that breached her. Signifying that she was an innocent ship, and the one that breached her took away her innocence. And in the end, sent her to her doom.”

“Was this… in any way influenced by someone in your life?”

“My mother.” Now, Arashi moved to sit down. They faced each other, separated by a table. “My father was no father. The only thing we ever got from him were bruises, cuts, and tears. Although, he wasn’t initially abusive… they were in love, and even through our early years as he got more violent, more controlling, she still loved him. Even after this giant fight they had, when he left, and came back six months later, she allowed him to come back.” Arashi tried to fight the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. “Even now, that he’s really gone… there’s some part of us, my brothers and I, that still thinks that she cares for him, in some way. After all, Love comes with a lot of investment of time, energy and trust. It’s not easy to just let go of a life you’ve built with someone, whether they’re abusive toward you or not. And she told me once, that she felt like she was damned because of it.”

“I see… it must have been very hard for you. It saddens me that people still go through that…” he shifted in his seat. “Tell me, Arashi, is there a link between crime and poverty?”

She looked at him dead in the eyes and a straight face. “Of course there’s a link. That’s just a fact.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in,” Julius said.

“Pardon me.” That was Damnatio Kira’s voice. Arashi almost tensed.

Julius turned towards the man saying, “Hello, Damnatio.”

The man stepped closer into the room. “So, you’re trying to take on everything again,” Kira stated. “Despite what you’ve been reduced to. Both what happened with the Magic Knights, as well as the boy possessed by a devil.” Arashi’s hand (which wasn’t visible from where Kira stood) clenched.

“That order was smart thinking, wasn’t it?” Julius asked. “Now no one will get punished.” The dragon slayer bit back a small laugh. He’s right. This way no one will get punished. “Of course, that’s how it should be, since Asta never did anything wrong. I’m sure that the Black Bulls will be able to find some clues about the devils. That’ll make up for them barging into the trial, too.”

“Forgiving them means taking responsibility. The kingdom can’t take that kind of responsibility. You can’t take on that responsibility yourself, either.”

“I didn’t forgive them. I left it in their hands. It’s not about responsibility. It’s about trusting them.” No response came from the judge. “Eventually, I’m sure your scales will tip in favor of Asta and his group.”

“It appears that you haven’t changed at all inside. I’m relieved.” He then went to step out of the room but stopped in the doorway. “The distortion in this country… The crisis we’re facing is not a small one. If the kingdom is about to fall, I’ll have to pass judgement. On that boy, and even you. Excuse me.” With that he left.

Not a few seconds later, Marx burst in the door. “Master Julius!” he exclaimed. His breathing was heavy.

“Hey there, Marx,” young Julius greeted. 

“Hey,” Arashi greeted with a warm smile. Marx’s eyes went wide at the sight of the current state of the Wizard King. “Feeling better already?”

Finally, his breathing slowed. He seemed to calm down. “You’re alive, but you’re little…” he remembered what was asked and quickly walked over to the Wizard King. “I’m fine, but… what? What’s going on?” Julius laughed nervously. “You were always like a child. And now, you really are a child.”

“So, yeah this-”

“You don’t need to explain! Just show me your memories later. The kingdom is in trouble, and that form of yours is… Honestly, you’re such a ridiculous person.” Tears started streaming down his face. “I’m s-so glad…” Marx tried to get the words out, but his emotions overtook him. Julius got up from his seat to hug him. “You’re alive,” he finished.

Arashi smiled sadly at the scene in front of her. 

“I’m sorry for always worrying you, Marx,” the Wizard King told him.

They broke their hug. “No, I’m not forgiving you.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a mountain of work waiting for you!”

“Wait-”

“There are plenty of problems we need to solve.”

“What?!”

Arashi couldn’t hold it in any longer. She burst out laughing. The two of them stared at her in confusion. “I should get going. It’s been a long day.”

“Bye, Arashi,” Julius said as she left them.

After the events of today, she was glad to finally plop onto her bed and fall asleep.


	18. While the capital was being reconstructed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter yay!!!

The next day, the Akabanes felt like training. They went outside early in the morning to spar. This time, however, would be one of few times they integrated magic into their sparing. After all, what's the good of having multiple weapons if you only sharpen one?

With Arashi’s mist magic, she made herself invisible while surrounding both of them in a cloud of mist so that Karma had to pay attention to the mana currents in the air and the ground. It was almost as if she _was_ the mist. A few times she was able to land a blow, which always varied depending on where she was coming from. The other few times, Karma would block her and counter strike. A few of those blows would send her to the ground, or up into the air. Everytime when she was struck, her magic gave in a little to reveal her form. There were lots of other times, however, when Karma would conjure up a blade to fight her off with. She responded in kind by creating cloud or lighting daggers of her own. After every time she’d get hit, the knight would disappear into the mist again.

Then, she started using two different spells at once: the storm clone spell and the mist spell. She’d make clones while still being unseen and making those clones unseen as well. One clone would clash blades with Karma and ultimately lose. Then she’d send the next one and the next before she herself actually attacked her brother. The girl even kneed him in the face before turning and disappearing into the mist again.

Next, she electrocuted the mist, sending the current all around the cloud. A clang sounded. Either Karma blocked it with a sword or with a shield. Then, from the center of the mist, came hundreds of arrows. From this, Arashi gathered that he’s locked onto her position and will likely strike from behind. 

The mana around them tells her that her opponent is behind her. She smirked and flash-stepped away, sending little hail shards that originally were the mist. Of course, that was only met by Karma’s own daggers. 

They were now on opposite sides of the cloud. Neither could see the other one at all, but they could sense all of their movements.

The two of them were aware of their squadmates glancing at the strange cloud in wonder. Only one of them had the guts to intervene. Leopold’s mana signature was coming in fast, and hot. He threw a random fire ball into the mist which was only swallowed up by the fog and eventually both elements evaporated. This left the three of them standing in fighting stances. Arashi smiled, remembering the day Leo said he wanted to learn how to fight without the use of magic.

Quickly, the Akabanes glanced at each other and silently agreed. They would both go after the lion prince. Arashi made clones of herself and her brother. Loe sent fire at all of them, or what he thought was all of them. The real siblings had flash-stepped to either side of him and were about to strike. Both of them hit him in places which blocked his mana then retreated.

Leo tried. Oh, he tried to attack them using magic, but quickly realized that he couldn’t. His fists will have to do for now. He tried to punch Arashi in the head but she pushed his fist to the side with her right hand and parried in that same direction. With her left hand, she locked his arm in place before finally punching him right below his ear. This, all with a few seconds. Disoriented he stepped back, which gave Karma a chance to strike. He swiped the prince’s legs and held him down while Arashi went over to him and lightly tapped him on the forehead.

“You, just died,” Arashi informed him. A few gasps and murmurs sounded from the audience. Karma let go of Leopold and helped him up.

“Man, it’s strange fighting without any magic. I don’t know how you both have managed to do so for so long,” Leopold stated as he stood up.

“Meh, we just do,” Karma told him. “Plus, we’ve been training like that our entire lives. You just fought without them.”

“That’s true,” the lion admitted. “I’m going to head back to the capital, help out some more. Wanna come?”

“Sure,” said Arashi. “Oh, and I should probably…” she didn’t finish her sentence as she unblocked his mana.

“Thanks.”

__________

Once the three of them were at the capital, it was already about noon, so they helped distribute meals to everyone who needed it. They were also helping random people with their shops, and putting most of the debris in a giant pile where the Captain of the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth, put them all in her dream world.

They were taking a break when Arashi heard music. They gravitated towards the pleasant sounds. As it turned out, a traveling band had arrived at the capital. The music was lively and perfect for dancing to. This young couple got up to dance. Others skipped and spun around before a partner came along to skip with them, hands held. There really wasn’t any set choreography to this, it was more dosey-doe like than anything, really. The people just congregated and started dancing. Karma and Leopold were among the ones who stood around clapped along. Somehow, Arashi got pulled into the mix. Her face was alight with happiness, as was most everyone else's. She motioned for either of them to come join her but they both waved it off as if to say no. She pouted. Then suddenly, Karma nudged Leo into the mix. He was immediately joined with a partner. The dancing went on for several more minutes until the music stopped. When it did, the people stopped dancing and cheered.

There was still light in the day, so Arashi decided she’d go visit the hospital. As far as she knew Owen still wasn’t up yet. Knowing that she had healing magic, some of the other healing mages put her to work. With Arashi’s help, some of the town’s folk got home early. The knight then went to Owen’s room, but he was asleep. 

—————

That night, it started again. Her nightmare curse.

_Words from the last dream came back, but they were softer, and rushed. Unlike the first time, she was herself, the same age as she currently was. Also unlike the first time, a storm surrounded the tree. A storm that she didn’t create. Normally, she’d feel comfortable, maybe even happy when surrounded by a storm. This time, it was different. Something felt darker. It made her uneasy._

_Then, she was being tossed around by some unseen force as if they were fighting. But she couldn’t see or sense anyone, so she lost whatever fight in the sky was happening. She fell from the sky only to catch herself on a tree. The limb of the tree then decided to break. The fall lasted longer too. Her mouth moved as if she was screaming, but no sound came out._

_Suddenly, she heard a different voice. “Arashi!!!!” It was Leopold’s._

_“W-why-“ she found herself thinking._

_The teen crashed into the river. Arashi felt like she couldn’t move. All she was doing was sinking, trying desperately to move, to rise to the top, but no dice._

—————

It was almost just like any other day, except Nozel and Mimosa were coming over for a visit. Nozel for reasons concerning the reconstruction of the kingdom and Mimosa for a family friendly visit. As Fuegoleon and Nozel talked, Leopold talked with Mimosa. The two of them had tea.

Mereoleona has just gotten back from training. The eldest Vermillions were still sort of balancing out both of them being captain, although, slowly, she’s been handing the reins back over to him.

Mereoleona, as well as Karma sat in the same room as Leopold and Mimosa. The captain also had tea while Karma was looking over his sister’s sketch book. He’d taken it from her when she wasn’t looking. More accurately, after she came home from the visit with the Wizard King and stashed the book in the bushes as she usually did, Karma fished it out. He knew she wouldn’t show him her notebook, so he decided to take it, like last time. Good thing that she hasn’t returned to the garden since then.

Although, something was off. “Has Arashi come down for breakfast yet?” asked Mereoleona. Leopold stopped speaking with his cousin to answer.

“No, I don’t think so,” he told her.

“Come to think of it,” Karma stated, “I haven’t seen her all day. It’s nearly noon now.” In realization, their eyes widened. In the next second, they ran out of the room, leaving poor Mimosa behind.

“Crap, not again,” Karma said under his breath.

In their hurry to get to Arashi, Leopold failed to notice his older brother and the two collided with an “oof.” Nozel stood not too far away from them.

“Sorry, big brother,” Leopold said before rushing off again.

“Where are they going?” Fuegoleon wondered out loud, seeing not only his younger brother, but his sister and Karma as well running up the stairs.

Mereoleona kicked down Arashi’s door to find her in that same nightmarish state. Only this time, it seemed as if she was gasping for air.

—————

_She’s been drowning for such a long time. She knows not to breathe, but every now and then, she breathes in, wishing for air and receiving water. Her body had gone down down down to the bottom of the river. It seemed to be bottomless. The rocks and surrounding space had grown darker, blacker._

_Until finally, her feet hit the ground. Since she was barefoot, she could really tell that it wasn’t sand, nor dirt or rocks. It felt like a hard tile flooring. The teen walked forward, moving through the water._

_Then suddenly, there was a barrier. It was invisible, but it felt like glass. She started walking in the other direction only to find that it too was sealed off by glass._

_Now, she was blocked on all sides by the glass. She was even blocked from above. The knight kicked and screamed, struggling to break the glass._

_That’s when she heard the screams._

—————

“I wonder what’s going on inside her head now,” Leopold wondered out loud.

Karma wondered if he should keep quiet. He knows or at least, knows along the lines of what she’s thinking. And if this one is as like the last one, then… Hmm. He’d hate to tell them, especially since he knows that she’d never tell them. The only person she trusts with this sort of thing seems to be only Karma. If he did tell them, and she found out, then the trust and friendship that he’s worked to regain from her might slip. “I wish I knew,” Karma stated.

“What’s going on?” came a voice. It was Fuegoleon.

“Oh, **Aniki** ,” Leopold stated, to everyone’s confusion except Karma’s. “Oops, sorry brother, Akabane’s language must be rubbing off on me.”

“To be honest sir,” Karma stated. “We don’t really know what’s going on. We just know that this is her curse.”

“Her curse, you say?” Fuegoleon repeated.

“Yeah. This only happened once before. When it did, we took her to Owen, but even then not much could be done. Although, she has to wake up on her own.”

“I see.”

With a gasp Arashi shot up out of bed. Tears streamed down her face as she took in heavy breaths. “Karma,” she whimpered. Her brother went to her side immediately, embracing her.

“I’m here,” he said to her. She cried and sobbed onto his shoulder. “What did you see?”

“I... I don’t know.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Le gasp! The curse is back!
> 
> Since everyone in Black Clover is basically doing their own thing (like Yami and Charlotte going out to dinner and Noelle finding out about her mom) I decided to do that too.


	19. Visit to Hage Village

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know... it’s been a while folks, but I’m back with a new chapter!

Karma pulled away. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I...” she struggled to find her words for a moment. “I was fighting this opponent in a storm of which I had no control of. They were virtually undetectable. Then, I fell from the sky…” SHe peered at Leopard. “You tried to catch me. You failed.” she then looked away from him. “I… think I drowned.”

A soft gasp escaped from her brother’s lips. She forgot the presence of the other people in the room. “I fell from that  _ same _ tree too.”

“What originally happened in your first dream?” Fuegoleon questioned. Arashi suddenly remembered the presence of the other people there. Her fists clenched, gripping the sheets and she tsked, trying to fight back a tear.

“Essentially,” she said after a few seconds of silence. Her voice was barely above a whisper. She paused. “I murdered everyone without really meaning to.”

“Are any of the ones you killed in your dream still alive?” Leopold asked.

The dragon slayer stared at him with a blank gaze. “Both you and Karma are still alive right?”

The little lion’s eyes widened as his mouth gaped open slightly. He then closed his mouth and averted his gaze. Karma gave no visible reaction. Arashi remembered that she told him about the dream the night after she woke up.

“We should get you down to the castle to tell Julius about this curse,” Fuegoleon decided.

“I already did that,” Arashi informed. “It was the discussion in which I was made his spy.”

————-

_ “I understand you can use mist magic to make yourself invisible,” _ Arashi remembers Julius saying.

_ “Yes, that’s right,” she responded. _

_ “And you can entirely conceal your presence while in that form, yes?” She nodded. “Good, because, if you’re up to it, I’d like for you to use that skill to spy on the Parliament.” _

_ “R-really? Sir?” _

_ “If you can make yourself undetectable and unseen, then yes.” _

_ “Of course, Julius. When do you want me to start?” _

_ “As soon as I let you go, but there is one more thing I wish to talk to you about.” _

_ “Okay, sure, what is it?” _

_ “Your curse.” Arashi tensed. “Owen mentioned something about you being cursed by a curse mage.” _

_ “That’s correct. Although, I-we have no idea if it’ll happen again, or if it was just a one time thing.” _

_ “He mentioned that you were asleep for more double the amount of sleep Karma told him you get.” _

_ “Did he now?” She thought about talking to Karma later, but then decided against it. _

_ “What is the curse anyway? He mentioned to me what he thought it was, but I want to hear what it was like for you.” _

_ “Uh, okay…” she tried to gather the words. “It was like a dream,” she said. “Although, past and future events melded together, and things that never happened in the past. Only certain things set in the future came true.” _

_ “So, in your dream, you changed the past?” _

_ “Yes, and because of that dream, I stopped a future.” _

_ “What do you mean?” _

_ “In the end of the dream, I became possessed. I couldn’t retake my body and had to watch as my possessor killed everyone. When I was possessed by an elf, I tried desperately not to let her kill any of my friends, and eventually, I regained control of my body.” _

_ “I see. Well then, thank you for your time.” _

__________

The memory ended as her captain spoke. “I see.”

Suddenly, a knock came at the door. “Enter,” Arashi told them. Mimosa and Noelle opened the door and walked in.

“Hey, are you okay?” Noelle asked her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She said with a bright smile, much to the confusion of everyone else. “I honestly don’t know what they were thinking. I’m perfectly fine.”

“O-okay,” Mimosa squeaked out. “Are you sure?”

“Of course.” With a meek “okay then,” both royal girls left the room. Arashi exhaled and faced the window. “Isn’t it strange, what a smile can hide?” She wants this curse  _ gone.  _ If Owen can’t do it… wait a minute, isn’t there a curse mage at the Black Bulls hideout? Yes. Yes there is. Arashi turned to face her captains. “If it’s no trouble, I would like to pay the Black Bulls a visit.”

“Uh, sure,” Fuegoleon told her. “But, maybe you should take someone with you.”

“No, I’d like to do it alone,” she told him, getting out of bed.

“Arashi, are you sure?” Mereoleona asked her, stepping closer to her.

“Yes.” Before they could say another word to her, she was off on her broom.

Once at the hideout, she immediately sought the curse mage out. Interestingly enough, Asta, as well as most everyone else, weren't there. The Dragon Slayer found him eventually. He mumbled a greeting which she could barely pick up.

“Yes, hello, I was wondering if you could remove a curse of mine,” she told him.

“That depends, what kind of curse is it?” He mumbled.

“The nightmare, see into the future kind.”

“Ah. Sit.” She sat on their couch and waited as he gathered a bunch of things in a bowl. He then started chanting, and placing a finger on her forehead. He then burned the contents of the bowl. Arashi felt a power surge within her. She felt something leave her body. Her eyes glowed. After a minute, he retreated his hand and stopped chanting. The fire died down immediately. “That should do it,” he mumbled.

“Thank you,” Arashi said as she stood up. “Say, where are all the others?”

“They took a trip without me,” the pale man mumbled sadly. “They’ll be returning soon, though.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look before leaving.

—————

The next day, she decided to go into the capital. As she flew over, she heard people shouting from the streets. “Look! It’s a Magic Knight!” “Not any Magic Knight, you idiot.” “Yeah! That’s Arashi Akabane, The Dragon Slayer of the Crimson Lion Kings!”

It felt so weird to be recognized by the citizens. Something that Arashi honestly wanted to avoid. There was chatter amongst them, murmurs and hubbub. She didn’t pay them any mind though.

Arashi was just about to go peruse the shops when she spotted her captain speaking with some of the other captains. She wasn’t going to go over there and talk to them, but Fuegoleon called her over. “Arashi! Can you come here a moment please?”

“Sure, Cap’n,” she stated, walking over to them. The head of the Vermillion house said his goodbyes to the others before meeting her halfway. “How was the meeting?”

The two of them began walking through the street. “It went fine,” he told her. “Did Mereoleona ever take you to the Hot Springs Training Camp?”

She peered at him in slight suspicion, wondering what he was concocting in his head. “Why, yes. Yes she did.”

“Good.”

“If I may, sir, why do you ask?”

“Arashi, I’m assuming you know of the demons, correct?” She nodded. “The other captains and I are going to conduct joint training sessions.”

“Ah, I see. Alright then.” Before they parted ways, Arashi stopped in her tracks. Noticing this, Fuegoleon stopped as well. “Well, I guess I better get going. Gotta pack and stuff.” She turned around and began walking away. “Oh, and thank you for allowing my brother and I to go on a small vacation!”

—————

As the siblings rode into the village on separate brooms, they couldn’t help but notice Noelle and Asta flying all awry. Karma couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of their constant bickering. Arashi almost felt bad. Noelle can’t easily control her magic. Oh well.

They arrived before either Yuno, or the Black Bulls. Knowing this, they did a quick “hello” tour in the village with most of their neighbors. Then, they went home. Akuma was waiting right by the door with his fists ready. 

“Hey, guys. We’re home!” Arashi announced as she entered the building.

“Uh, hey guys-uhah!” Karma was pinched in the face by his little brother. Angered, he turned towards the boy. “You little brat! What was that for?!” His hand held onto his cheek, which had a bruise that was now bleeding.

“Not coming home sooner,  **baka** !” Akuma yelled. He then collected himself, standing up straighter with crossed arms. With his nose turned up, he added, “I guess you can say it was karma!”

“Why you!” Karma fumed. He was just about to punch him back when his sister stopped him.

“Calm down, will you?” Arashi requested. Her hands rested on her hips. “Honestly, you two. We just got home and you're fighting already?!” She sighed and went to drop her bags in her and Akuma’s room. “Oh, and,” she said as she reentered the main room. “Nice punch, Akuma.”

“Thanks sis.” Akuma said with a smile.

“Karma? Arashi? Are you here?” Their mother piped up from the kitchen.

“Yeah!” The Magic Knights said in unison. Arashi ventured into the kitchen and kissed her mom on the cheek.

“I like what you’ve done with the place!” Karma shouted. He must have been looking around.

“Yeah, well, you can thank Arashi for that! You didn’t send us  _ any _ money,” Akuma scolded him.

“Shut up, will ya brat?” Thankfully a non lethal argument ensued.

Their mom chuckled at them and turned towards her daughter. “It’s nice to have all three of you home.”

“Yeah,” her daughter agreed.

“But about that Asta,” her mom contemplated as she showed Arashi the newspaper. The reporters keep saying that Asta is a servant of the devil, because of his powers.

“It’s not true mom,” she said. “He’s trying to defeat them, not work for them.”

“If you say so.”

An eruption of voices and spells came from the living room. “Weapons Magic!” “Take Over Magic!”

“Oh, absolutely not!” Their mother ran into the room, shouting, “Weapons Magic, binding chains!” Arashi walked into the room to find that her siblings had been tied up and their mom yelling at both of them never to use magic to fight in the house. These chains will be there as long as needed in order for the two of them to talk it out. She then went into the next room to read.

“Gonna help, sis?” Karma asked through gritted teeth as he tried to escape the bonds.

“Fat chance,” she said to them. She was about to go outside when her twin whined.

“Wait, sis!” Akuma shouted.

“Karma~” Arashi said jokingly, smiling at them. She then flew over to the school that Akuma told her about in letters. Once she landed, the small children crowded around her like they did Asta and Yuno. 

“Oh, Arashi, you’re here too?” Asta noticed.

She nodded. “Hey, where’s Noelle?” 

Just as she asked that, Sister Lily emerged from the school. Arashi knew what was coming, the idiot would get down on one knee and ask for her hand in marriage. Lily would decline, using a magic spell on him.

That’s when Noelle crashed. Right near Asta. She yelled at him, “Don’t come charging at me like that, Bakasta!” Arashi smiled, knowing that she had passed on the meaning of the nickname to the noble woman.

“Okay,” he said weakly.

“Oh, Asta, Yuno, Arashi,” Lily addressed. “I have a favor to ask.” The Crimson Lion and the Crimson Dawn members nodded. Meanwhile...

“I’d do anything for you, Sister Lily!” The Black Bull shouted.

“You see,” Lily went on. “I’d like for you three to act as teachers to the little ones.”

“Us?” “Teachers?” “Really?”

She nodded. “Yes. Everyone in this kingdom looks up to the Magic Knights. So, I think being instructed by some Magic Knights would be a nice memory.”

“Okay, but what would we even teach?” Arashi wondered out loud. 

“I’ll leave that up to you.”

Arashi went straight ahead to the older kids, the ones who would be getting their Grimoires next year. “Quiet down everyone!” One of the instructors said. “We have a very special guest with us today!”

Arashi stepped into the classroom. “Good morning everyone!” She greeted them.

A few of them gasped. “Hey, it’s Arashi!” “Look at that nice robe she has on!” “I bet she’s an awesome knight!”

Their words made her smile. “I bet you’re all excited to get your grimoires, Huh?”

“Yeah!” They all exclaimed.

“Good. That’s good.” She began to pace around the room. “Do you all know what a Grimoire is?”

“Of course!” “We can cast our own magic spells with it!”

“Very good, but that’s not all of what they’re good for,” she told them.

“It’s not?” One of them asked her.

“Well, I’m here to tell you, that a grimoire… represents freedom!” She took out her own magic spell book. The younger kids all crowded around her, wanting to get a better look at the object. “Because I have this grimoire, I had the freedom to choose. The choice was whether or not to stay here, and tend to the fields, which is a perfectly okay decision, you could even teach the kids about magic for the next year’s group, or I could join the Magic Knights! The freedom to choose is one of the most powerful things, kids, Mark my words.”

“Thank you, for those encouraging words, Arashi,” the other instructor said. “Why don’t we practice a bit of our magic, yeah?” The younglings all shouted words of agreement. 

The kids gathered in the center of the room and began using their magic affiliation. The room seemed to glow with mana as blobs of water, earth and fire meshed together.

“Very good, everyone,” Arashi encourages them. “You’re all so powerful already!”

—————

After Arashi headed home, she found Karma speaking with Akuma about his travels. “Oh, you’re back,” Akuma noticed.

“Yeah, I am!” She told them. That’s when the smell of food hit her nose. “Smells good mom!”

“Doesn’t it?” Their mother questioned. “We’re going to the church to have a nice big dinner to celebrate your return!” That’s why she was in the kitchen all day.

The Dragon Slayer’s eyes lit up. “Really? Oh my god, thank you!”

“Now help me carry these potatoes to the church!”

“Of course mom!” Arashi knew that Karma and herself had to leave in the morning, but for now, she wished that time would pause. Despite the goings on, she wanted to stay here, just a little while longer.


	20. Joint Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's a little short, but whatevs. Sorry for not posting in so long!

Today was going to be one of those joint training days. Captain Mereoleona left to gather a few Bulls while the rest of the Crimson Lions traveled to the training spot.

Once everyone arrived at the Volcano, things could get started. Some of the Lions apologized to the Bulls on account of being possessed by elves. Asta said to think nothing of it. The devil  _ was _ controlling everything anyway. Devils. That’s the entire reason they were on this volcano today. To train, and be ready to fight them. Proving Asta’s innocence would also be a priority. 

This time, however, they wouldn’t be climbing the mountain. They’ll be traveling underneath it. Mereoleona called it the Yultim Volcano Underground Cave. “It’s what makes this volcano a strong magic region,” she explained, pointing beneath her. “An enormous mana heat source deep underground. The rocks deep underground that are soaked in this mana became lava due to the heat and burst into the surface. Which means the further you go underground, the stronger the influence of mana becomes. If your mana skin falters, your bodies will be exposed to the immense mana and burn up, reduced to ashes.” She scanned the terrified faces of most of the knights. “Have no fear. The goal, which is the deepest part of the cave, has an even better hot spring! Well, does that make you excited?”

The Akabanes shrugged. “Challenge accepted,” they stated. This immediately shocked the Black Bulls.

Although, a few of them don’t even know what mana skins are. Fuegoleon came prepared Incase this happened. He gave them all magic items that would help them bring out their mana skins. 

“Alright, let’s do this!” Leopold shouted. “I will overcome this blazing mana with my flame magic and reach the goal first!”

“As if!” The Akabanes challenged, putting on their mana skins.

“I’m going to just keep moving forward and get stronger!” Asta declared.

“You say that, but what are you even going to do when you can’t use mana skin?” Noelle questioned. “That one power of yours takes a lot out of you and doesn’t last for long, right? If it stops working, you’ll be burned to a crisp.”

It was as Asta spoke to her about being more in control of that power now, that Luck spotted the Dragon Slayer. “Hi Arashi,” he said energetically, rushing over to her. “It’s been a while, and you still owe me a fight.”

The Dragon Slayer smiled. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?” She remembered. “How about a race then?” Luck’s smile widened.

Both captains of the Crimson Lion Kings stepped in front of the group with their mana skins on. “It appears you’re all prepared,” Fuegoleon stated. “You are the proud Magic Knights of the Clover Kingdom. Get through this trial with a desire that surpasses even the heat of this strong magic region!” Everyone cheered.

They all started running. Asta and Leopold both started to sprint, as did Luck and Arashi. The others soon followed. Either, the captains are going in after everyone else, or they’re choosing not to go. The Dragon Slayer didn’t see them enter. Then again, she has to stay focused on what’s ahead of her.

“Hey, do you feel that?” Luck asked her. Sweat was dripping from both of them. The deeper everyone went, the hotter it got. “It feels like there’s a powerful creature somewhere!” She did sense it, but she also didn’t want to be distracted by its presence and not reach the hot spring. “I’m going to fight it! Our little race will have to wait!”

He went to climb the walls of the cave. Arashi heard her brother not too far behind her. This gave her more drive to keep sprinting through the cave.

A few minutes later, the Akabens felt Leopold, and Noelle give off massive amounts of Mana. They were fighting this giant spider monster. Wanting to help, they entered the battle. “Storm Dragon Slayer Magic! Blitz Claws!” “Weapons Magic! A Thousand Arrows!”

They both seemed to injure it, but that only made it angry. “Flame Magic!” Shouted Leopold. “Spiral Flames!” He cast it on both his hands. The teen shouted as he put more power into his attack. The spider was soon driven back into the shadows.

Suddenly, the captains flew in on the Salamander spirit. “You never look this happy after our daily training sessions,” Mereoleona remarked. The salamander landed and she stepped off of it, walking towards the young knights. Okay then, so they actually did follow after everyone else inside the cave. “That bug is a mutant that recently showed up and has been eating up all the creatures around here. I wanted to teach it a lesson, but I’m sure it’s able to sense those that are stronger than it is. It never shows itself before me. So, I decided to try and throw you lot in here. It attacked you, thinking you were food, just as I planned.”

The Akabanes sighed while Asta yelled, “How could you do something like that?!”

“If you knew that thing was down here, you should’ve told us!” Noelle added.

“Don’t be naive!” The female captain shouted, shutting them up. “The unexpected always happens in battle! Not to mention, we’re going to be facing a devil from another world! How do you expect to survive if you can’t even handle this?” She let that sink in for a small moment before continuing. “Or so I’d like to say. But it appears that bug isn’t a mere mutant. That thing has man-made mana within it. Mana it wasn’t born with.”

“So, someone injected, or at least gave that spider mana?” Arashi asked, just to make sure. Mereoleona nodded.

Fuegoleon hopped off of the salamander and walked towards the wall. “This must be how it kept hiding from you,” he said. 

“Elaborate camouflage that even I couldn’t see though,” the female captain muttered. “Must be an ancient curse.”

The salamander roared flames out of its mouth and revealed a seal on the wall. A small explosion happened. They all gasped as the explosion revealed a doorway.

“Is that…” Arashi began to question.

“A dungeon, eh?” Mereolena questioned as she cracked her knuckles. “Things are getting more exciting.”

Just then, the rest of the Crimson Lion Kong’s showed up. The Vice Captain asked, “Lady Mereoleona, what is that?” All of them were out of breath.

“You’re late!” She yelled at them. “Did you enjoy your nice little stroll with the Black Bulls, you pathetic fools?! And you call yourselves Crimson Lion Kings?!”

“If it were just Vice Captain Randall and me,” one of them said, “we could have gotten here faster. We are unworthy.”

Luck, and Magna was there, amongst Charmy, who was munching on something. “And who gave you permission to eat?” The tyrant questioned. Asta went over to here to try and tell her to read the room.

“We’ve already reported to the Royal Capital that we found a dungeon,” Fuegoleon stated. “Stand by for further instructions!”

“Yes, sir!” They all piped up.

Pretty soon, Charmy had her weird sheep make food for everyone so that they could all rest up and have more energy. The Akabanes sat near a rock, distancing themselves a little from everyone else. Arashi began paying attention to what happened around them only after Leopold got punched in the face by his older sister.

“Don’t get cocky!” she shouted at him. “You’re the foolish, inexperienced weakling who let that bug escape! You have some nerve saying that to me!”

“I -- promised that I will -- succeed next time!” he promised, struggling only due to her fist still connected to his now broken nose.

The woman soon discarded him, tossing the poor teen a few feet away. “There is no next time in battle!” Arashi heard Karma sigh as the Lion King prince slid their way. “Go whip yourself back into shape in that dungeon!”

Leo immediately sat up in a kneeling position. “Yes, ma’am!”

“Eyes up, everyone!” Feugoleon projected. He showed a monitor with Marx.

“Captain Fuegoleon filled me in on the situation,” Marx stated. “It appears that a rather powerful magic item lies deep within that dungeon.” People gasped in surprise and interest. “According to a book that Master Julius found in the library, that magic item was sealed away deep in the Yultim Volcano by those who feared it would be used for evil. Otherwise, it’s shrouded in mystery. Little is known about it.”

“Yes, yes that’s right!” Everyone heard Julius off camera.

“Honestly,” Marx muttered to himself. “Could you please be quiet?!” he whisper-yelled.

“Oh, sorry about that,” the young king apologized. “But won’t it be exciting to find out what the magic item is?”

“Shush!”

“Let me head over there, too.”

“Absolutely not!”

“What? But I’ll wear a disguise!”

“That’s not the issue here.”

Arashi couldn’t help but giggle. It was just like the Wizard King to do something like this! It was even funnier when she realized no one else besides a few of the Bulls knew this was the Wizard King.

“What are you laughing about?” Karma whispered.

“That’s the Wizard King,” I whispered back.

“It is?!” he said louder than he should have. She moved to shush him, but he was already laughing hard. “Seriously?!” Arashi smacked him lightly on the head. “Alright, fine, I’ll stop.”

“A-anyway,” Marx spoke again. “The magic item and any other treasure you happen to find in the dungeon will be essential to getting this kingdom back on its feet. I’m counting on all of you to investigate it.”

“Understood,” Fuegoleon told him before turning off the device. He then turned towards those under his command. “Now then-”

“Listen up, you fools!” Mereoleona interrupted him. “You will carry out this investigation with your pride as the Magic Knights who protect this kingdom on the line!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Everyone answered.

It was almost strange to Arashi, how they all answered to the second Captain’s authority more. Even though technically, Fuegoleon is supposed to be in charge again. Perhaps it’s just because she’s scarier than him.

After a small discussion between siblings, Fuegoleon spoke up. “The first group will be, Asta, Noelle, Luck, Leo, Arashi, and Magna. You will search for the location where the magic item sleeps. The rest of you will rendezvous with the first group as your mana has recovered.”

“Alright, let’s go!” shouted Asta. The others in the group shouted in agreement. They ran into the dungeon not knowing what to expect, but ready for it anyways.


End file.
